Setting priorities for conservation of medicinal plants –– a case study in the Indian Himalaya Original Research Article

The paper analyses available information on various aspects of medicinal plants (MPs) of the Indian Himalaya region (IHR). Among the identified gaps in knowledge, lack of objective assessment of threats was considered a major impediment in setting conservation priorities. The paper addresses this issue keeping in view the needs of users (industry) and conservation concerns of academics (biologists). An approach for prioritisation of MPs for conservation was thus developed. Prioritisation based on three indices: (i) use value index (UVI) indicate threats imposed by users, (ii) sensitivity index (SI) reflect conservation concerns of biologists, and (iii) importance value index (IVI) is the cumulative value of (i) and (ii) to prevent biased approach. Dependence of pharmaceutical industry on only 10% of the available stock and that too on non-native elements suggest that the potential of true Himalayan MPs has not been harnessed as yet. However, increased dependence on exclusive wild forms (64.6%), dominance of destructive harvest trend (69%) and restricted distribution range of most MPs used by the industry is a pointer to the intensity of threat. The paper identifies 20 top ranking MPs for conservation in each life form.