MEDICINAL BIODIVERSITY
IMPORTANT FOCUS ON PAST
Herbs are staging a comeback and herbal ‘renaissance’ is happening all over the globe. The herbal products today symbolise safety in contrast to the synthetics that are regarded as unsafe to human and environment. Although herbs had been priced for their medicinal, flavouring and aromatic qualities for centuries, the synthetic products of the modern age surpassed their importance, for a while. However, the blind dependence on synthetics is over and people are returning to the naturals with hope of safety and security. Over three-quarters of the world population relies mainly on plants and plant extracts for health care. More than 30% of the entire plant species, at one time or other, were used for medicinal purposes. It is estimated that world market for plant derived drugs may account for about Rs.2,00,000 crores.
Presently, Indian contribution is less than Rs.2000 crores. Indian export of raw drugs has steadily grown at 26% to Rs.165 crores in 1994-’95 from Rs.130 crores in 1991-’92. The annual production of medicinal and aromatic plant’s raw material is worth about Rs.200 crores. This is likely to touch US $1150 by the year 2000 and US $5 trillion by 2050. It has been estimated that in developed countries such as United States, plant drugs constitute as much as 25% of the total drugs, while in fast developing countries such as China and India, the contribution is as much as 80%. Thus, the economic importance of medicinal plants is much more to countries such as India than to rest of the world. These countries provide two third of the plants used in modern system of medicine and the health care system of rural population However, only 7000-7500 species are used for their medicinal values by traditional communities. In India, drugs of herbal origin have been used in traditional systems of medicines such as Unani and Ayurveda since ancient times. The Ayurveda system of medicine uses about 700 species, Unani 700, Siddha 600, Amchi 600 and modern medicine around 30 species. The drugs are derived either from the whole plant or from different organs, like leaves, stem, bark, root, flower, seed, etc. Some drugs are prepared from excretory plant product such as gum, resins and latex. Even the Allopathic system of medicine has adopted a number of plant-derived drugs which form an important segment of the modern pharmacopoeia. Some important chemical intermediates needed for manufacturing the modern drugs are also obtained from plants. Not only, that plant-derived drug offers a stable market worldwide, but also plants continue to be an important source for new drugs. Traditional systems of medicine continue to be widely practiced on many accounts. Population rise, inadequate supply of drugs, prohibitive cost of treatments, side effects of several allopathic drugs and development of resistance to currently used drugs for infectious diseases have led to increased emphasis on the use of plant materials as a source of medicines for a wide variety of human ailments. Global estimates indicate that 80% of about 4 billion population cannot afford the products of the Western Pharmaceutical Industry and have to rely upon the use of traditional medicines which are mainly derived from plant material. This fact is well documented in the inventory of medicinal plants, listing over 20,000 species. In spite of the overwhelming influences and our dependence on modern medicine and tremendous advances in synthetic drugs, a large segment of the world population still likes drugs from plants. In many of the developing countries the use of plant drugs is increasing because modern life saving drugs are beyond the reach of three quarters of the third world’s population although many such countries spend 40-50% of their total wealth on drugs and health care. As a part of the strategy to reduce the financial burden on developing countries, it is obvious that an increased use of plant drugs will be followed in the future. Among ancient civilizations, India has been known to be rich repository of medicinal plants. The forest in India is the principal repository of large number of medicinal and aromatic plants, which are largely collected as raw materials for manufacture of drugs and perfumery products. About 8,000 herbal remedies have been codified in Ayurveda. The Rigveda (5000 BC) has recorded 67 medicinal plants, Yajurveda 81 species, Atharvaveda (4500-2500 BC) 290 species, Charak Samhita (700 BC) and Sushrut Samhita (200 BC) had described properties and uses of 1100 and 1270 species respectively, in compounding of drugs and these are still used in the classical formulations, in the Ayurvedic system of medicine. Unfortunately, much of the ancient knowledge and many valuable plants are being lost at an alarming rate. With the rapid depletion of forests, impairing the availability of raw drugs, Ayurveda, like other systems of herbal medicines has reached a very critical phase. About 50% of the tropical forests, the treasure house of plant and animal diversity have already been destroyed. In India, forest cover is disappearing at an annual rate 1.5mha/yr. What is left at present is only 8% as against a mandatory 33% of the geographical area. Many valuable medicinal plants are under the verge of extinction. The Red Data Book of India has 427 entries of endangered species of which 28 are considered extinct, 124 endangered, 81 vulnerable, 100 rare and 34 insufficiently known species (Thomas, 1997). Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Folk (tribal) medicines are the major systems of indigenous medicines. Among widely practiced in India. Ayurveda dating back to 1500-800 BC has been an integral part of Indian culture. The term comes from the Sanskrit root Au (life) and Veda (knowledge). As the name implies it is not only the science of treatment of the ill but covers the whole gamut of happy human life involving the physical, metaphysical and the spiritual aspects. Ayurveda recognizes that besides a balance of body elements one has to have an enlightened state of consciousness, sense organs and mind if one has to be perfectly healthy. Ayurveda by and large is an experience with nature and unlike in Western medicine, many of the concepts elude scientific explanation. Ayurveda is gaining prominence as the natural system of health care all over the world. Today this system of medicine is being practiced in countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, while the traditional system of medicine in the other countries like Tibet, Mongolia and Thailand appear to be derived from Ayurveda. Phytomedicines are also being g used increasingly in Western Europe. Recently the US Government has established the “Office of Alternative Medicine” at the National Institute of Health at Bethesda and its support to alternative medicine includes basic and applied research in traditional systems of medicines such as Chinese, Ayurvedic, etc. with a view to assess the possible integration of effective treatments with modern medicines. The development of systematic pharmacopoeias dates back to 3000 BC, when the Chinese were already using over 350 herbal remedies. Ayurveda, a system of herbal medicine in India, Sri Lanka and South-East Asia has more than 8000 plant remedies and using around 35,000-70,000 plant species. China has demonstrated the best use of traditional Medicine in providing the health care. China has pharmacologically validated and improved many traditional herbal medicines and eventually integrated them in formal health care system. Green plants synthesize and preserve a variety of biochemical products, many of which are extractable and used as chemical feed stocks or as raw material for various scientific investigations. Many secondary metabolites of plant are commercially important and find use in a number of pharmaceutical compounds. However, a sustained supply of the source material often becomes difficult due to the factors like environmental changes, cultural practices, diverse geographical distribution, labor cost, and selection of the superior plant stock and over exploitation by pharmaceutical industry.
GLOBAL SCENARIO OF MEDICINAL PLANTS
The global demand for medicinal plants is ever increasing. There is less or negligible efforts on scientific farming of medicinal plants are made and extensions of technologies are lagging behind. Unprecedented economic growth since the industrial revolution has come at the huge cost of environmental degradation. Forests are degrading at an alarming rate and plants are losing their natural habit and habitat. According to the report of World Health Organization, a large population of the world relies on the Traditional systems of medicines, largely plant based to meet their primary health care needs. The International market of herbal products is estimated to be US $ 62 B, which is passed to grow to US $ 5 T by the year 2050. India's share in the global export market of medicinal plant related trade is less than 0.5%. In view of the innate Indian strengths, which include diverse ecosystems, technical & financial capacity and a strong manufacturing sector, the medicinal plant can become a huge export opportunity after fulfilling domestic needs. In recent times, many medium and large-scale industries have come up in India and other developing countries manufacturing cosmetic, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical products etc from plant parts by using modern technology and quality control. A number of multinational companies are extracting phytochemicals viz., alkaloids, steroids, terpenoids, etc. from plant parts for preparation of medicines. This new demand is generating considerable income at local and national levels. Moreover, finished products from medicinal plants are not classified in the national or international product and economic systems for trade and exports. This has resulted in neglect and low budgetary support for development of this vital sector, especially of rural economy.
INDIAN SCENARIO OF MEDICINAL PLANTS
India has a rich heritage of traditional knowledge of medicine of plant origin that grows widely in forest and in hill region. Some of these medicinal plants and their derivatives have found their use and required by pharmaceutical industries. The rich past alone is no guaranty for prosperous future unless we make persistent effort to harness the opportunities which science and technology can offer for the use of mankind. The natural resource of plants however, large extensive and exhaustible. Due to ruthless exploitation of medicinal plants without adopting conservation measure some important medicinal plants fall under threatened, rare and endangered category and time has now come to bring this medicinal wealth on the farmer’s field and even in the kitchen gardens of people of rural and urban areas. So, that the medicinal plants can be preserved, multiplied and used for common human ailments. Looking to the usefulness of these plants, there is heavy demand in Ayurvedic /modern medicine industries. Developing the standards for quality and promoting them requires consensus and coordinated efforts. But most importantly in case of medicinal plants commitment would be required in all stages of cultivation, processing, packing and up to end use than only pressure on the natural forest would be reduced and conservation efforts will be fruitful to both mankind and nature. Taking into consideration these points following traditionally and commercially important
Medicinal plants can be propagated, cultivated and conserved successfully. The National Medicinal Plant Board (NMPB) has identified and prioritized 32 species for large-scale cultivation in our country. These plants can be grown in homesteads, community and village lands, rural areas, vicinity of agricultural and horticultural fields, jhum fallows, forested locations, etc. in various altitudes with suitable species. Out of 32 plants identified by NMPB, 25 medicinal plants can be well grown in the NE India. From the experience gained in by survey and documentation by the Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat, a few more species having market potential could be considered for cultivation and economic development of the region through proper awareness generation, extension of technologies, cultivation and development of Market - Pogostemon cablin, Rubia cordifolia L., Coptis teeta Wall. ., Panax sikkimensis, Podophyllum haxandrum Royle, Piper mullesua, Taxus wallichiana, (syn. T. baccata), Clerodendrum colebrookianum, Illicium griffithii, Aquilaria agallocha, Costus speciosus, Oroxylum indicum, Terminalia arjuna, Termanalia bellirica,Terminalia chebula
Acorus calamus, Dioscorea floribunda, Costus speciousus, Curcuma ceacia, Plumbago zeylanica, Cymbopogon martini etc. but there is lack of general awareness among the people about benefits of plantations and technology of cultivating them. This is largely because of non availability of information and cultivation packages. The Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat which has been working, in the field of medicinal plants in North east Indian states has come forward to fill this lacuna.
