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| Tuesday, 19 October 2004 |
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Conserving indigenous medicinal plants - Maharashtra experience
It is in this aspect that we should appreciate the recent decision taken by the Ministry of Indigenous Medicines to formulate a National Policy for the conservation of indigenous medicinal plants. While it is true that indigenous healing does not have all the answers that Western medical science is perceived to have, it is also true that Western medicine does not have all the answers for diseases found among Asian and African peoples. Any National Policy, therefore, should partly focus on unlocking the indigenous knowledge imbedded in the practice of indigenous healing and on the interaction of the two medical systems (Western and indigenous) for the benefit of the people. I believe that the Government should (among others) explore the following issues in the formulation of the National Policy: * the real socio-economic significance and value of the use of indigenous plants for medicinal purposes by indigenous healers and by ordinary people. * the present indigenous mechanisms that control the utilisation, harvesting and selling of indigenous plants for medicinal purposes. * the creation of appropriate community-based institutions for the control over the sustainable utilisation, harvesting and sale of indigenous plants for medicinal purposes. * the manner in which the indigenous healers and the medicine harvesters can be incorporated into a system of sustainable managing of indigenous medicine utilisation and its marketing. * establishing nurseries in the wild where rare and endangered medicinal species can be cultivated for distribution to markets. Our natural vegetation includes a host of wild relatives of plants that directly or indirectly provide sustenance to the people. In Sri Lanka, over 600 species of local plants are considered to be of medicinal value. Due to over exploitation, many species of medicinal plants are now rare or confined to restricted locations. Some species may already be extinct. It follows then that the harvesting of these natural resources must be carried out on a sustainable basis, in the interest of the long-term maintenance of the health care system of Sri Lanka. The Indigenous Medicines Minister said recently that the programme identifying medicinal herbs in Sri Lanka is now almost reaching completion. He intends to carry out the conservation on zone basis and simultaneously an educational programme for the children. These are very good news. At the same time, I believe, he should also concentrate on three other important programmes. 1. The wise use of indigenous medicinal plant species in Sri Lanka must be stimulated, starting with a thorough analysis of the sustainability of the present harvesting pattern. 2. Feasibility studies should be undertaken with a view to lessening impacts on the remaining natural stands of certain valuable species. 3. Designing and implementing monitoring programs for species that will still have to be collected in large quantities from the wild. Monitoring should be based on the principle of 'adaptive management'. It should cover both domestic and international trade in indigenous medicinal plants, in accordance with national and international regulations. Maharashtra experience The Medicinal Plants Conservation Centre (MPCC), based in Pune, Maharashtra, has initiated a conservation venture to tackle a similar problem. The centre, set up by Rural Communes, a Mumbai-based NGO, has, with help from the Maharashtra forest department and the Union ministry of environment and forests, identified and managed 13 Medicinal Plant Conservation Areas (MPCA) adjoining forest lands across the state. These MPCAs were selected to represent different eco-climatic and altitudinal zones, and plant species diversity. The MPCAs constitute just 0.05 per cent of the state's total forest area. Yet, they house 30 per cent of its plant diversity. Each MPCA is an average of 250-300 hectares in size. The MPCC has also set up a network of nurseries to raise 50,000 plants belonging to 50 different species. Four production centres have been established to process herbal products. Satish Elkunchwar, project director and senior IFS officer says: "The first objective was the planting of medicinal plants on degraded forest lands." Most medicinal plants are naturally found in forest habitats. The co-operation of the Maharashtra forest department was essential for this, since most MPCAs are adjacent to forest land. Six of them lie within national parks or sanctuaries. The project was initially implemented in three MPCAs from 1997 onwards, based on a structure and technical inputs provided by the Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions. The Bangalore-based Foundation has piloted similar projects throughout peninsular India. Based on the success of the initial project, in the year 2000, MPCC received funding for a two-year pilot project from the UNDP-sponsored Country Cooperation Fund-1 Project on Medicinal Plants Conservation and Sustainable Utilisation. The Maharashtra forest department has been the implementing agency for this project. "It is unique because it is a public, private, Government and NGO partnership, something one does not see very often," explains Elkunchwar. Conservation Besides preserving the gene pool and documenting the medicinal use of each plant, the project's goals include prioritising medicinal plants for focused conservation action, and developing plans for the specific recovery and enrichment of critically endangered and economically valuable species. Also, crucially, involving local communities in the conservation of medicinal plants whilst ensuring community benefits through innovative schemes for the sustainable utilisation of medicinal plants. MPCC has undertaken several activities towards this end. One of them is the adoption of villages that fall within the boundaries of the MPCA. Local management committees are set up to ensure proper utilisation of the benefits that accrue to the village through the programme. Help from the community is sought to protect and preserve the MPCA. MPCC has also trained several 'barefoot botanists' (residents of the village) who are able to identify local plant species and are aware of their traditional uses. These botanists have helped in the second phase of the MPCC project - detailed botanical documentation, including the collection of basic ecological data, that is being done by trained botanists from the centre. They can visit the MPCA all year round and therefore observe the plants at each stage of (their) flowering and fruiting, thus assisting the work of the botanists who are engaged in documentation. MPCC regularly conducts meetings of traditional rural healers from the various areas. The organisation has identified and kept contact with these traditional healers who have a vast knowledge of traditional healing methods and the uses of various plants, which has been passed down through the generations and many of which remain undocumented. At the meetings these healers share their knowledge with each other. Through MPCC's own research it has also found other uses for the herbs and plants they know of. Local people have been trained to collect and process various herbs and plants, turn them into oils, medications, foodstuff etc. and package and sell them, albeit on a small scale. According to Elkunchwar, eco-tourism could be another outcome of the conservation drive. It has, in fact, already begun in a small way, in the setting up of demo-gardens next to the MPCA, where visitors can see examples of plants indigenous to the area, study their botanical details and learn about their usage. Looking into the future, Elkunchwar would "like to see a time when the preservation of these plants becomes the alternative source of livelihood for these villagers, not merely an additional one". MPCC has been so successful in implementing its objectives that it is one of the three Indian recipients of the inaugural Equator Initiative Prize 2002. Awarded for Innovation in Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development, the award carries a cash prize of US $ 30,000. The centre plans to put the money into a corpus fund to further its project. We can learn quite a lot from the Maharashtra Experience. |
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Produced by Lake House |
Traditional medicine may be seen as a product of the twofold wealth of
Sri Lanka: its biodiversity and its cultural diversity. With a view to
maintaining this diversity and ensuring the long-term future of the
country's health care system, Sri Lanka needs to devise a programme for
the sustainable use of medicinal plants.
