Ayurveda experts call for novel strategies to conserve medicinal plants

The earth is losing one potential drug every two years due to the survival threat to medicinal plants and the rate of their extinction is a hundred times faster than the natural process, according to experts who attended the World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) in Goa.

They also underlined the need for the conservation of medicinal plants beyond awareness campaigns.

Ten per cent of the 900 major medicinal plants in India are under the "threatened" category, observed speakers at a session on 'Conservation Needs of Medicinal Plants' at the 9th edition of the WAC and Arogya Expo 2022.

The four-day WAC concluded on Sunday.

"The earth is losing one potential drug every two years at an extinction rate that is a hundred times faster than the natural process," a release said quoting various experts who spoke at the session.

In his valedictory address at WAC, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the world has tried various treatment styles and is returning to the ancient treatment methods of Ayurveda.

J.A.C.S. Rao, CEO of the State Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Board, Chhattisgarh, said the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has estimated that about 10 per cent of the world's vascular plant species of around 20,000-25,000 are under varying degrees of threat.

Around 5,000 species are endemic to India while about 1,500 species (about 10 per cent of flowering plants) are under varying degrees of threat.

Rao said the number of "red-listed" plants in India is 387, while there are 77 critically endangered species, and six species in the "extinct" category. Two species in the wild have disappeared altogether.

He cited over-exploitation, industry's high dependence on wildlife population, habitat destruction and urbanisation as some of the reasons.

"We have to adopt conservation strategies like field studies, proper documentation, mitigation measures, special laws like Endangered Species Act, 1973 and recovery programmes," he added.

Dr Pradip Vithal Sarmokadam, Member Secretary, State Biodiversity Board (SBB), Goa, highlighted the need for the conservation of biodiversity through livelihood and understanding populations of medicinal plants to preserve the ecosystem.

"India has about 45,000 plant species and out of them, 7,333 are medicinal aromatic plants. But only 15 per cent of medicinal plants are cultivated while the remaining 85 per cent are collected by the industry from forest ecosystems and other natural habitats," he added.

Former Union AYUSH ministry Joint Secretary and ex-CEO of the National Medicinal Plants Board, Jitendra Sharma said a formal linkage of supply chains from the augmented resources from the wild is a big challenge.

He said an amendment is needed in the Indian Forest Act 1927 since there is no provision for a national transit permit that allows the transit of forest produce from one part of the country to other.