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In the forests of Maharashtra, a UNDP prize-winning initiative is helping to preserve the region's indigenous medicinal plants. The Medicinal Plants Conservation Centre maintains and protects biodiversity with the involvement of the local community
In recent years, the huge demand for herbal and ayurvedic preparations in the urban market, coupled with massive deforestation, has taken its toll on the country's natural medicinal plant resources. Since these resources are the mainstay of the rural healthcare support system in India, where modern healthcare is both expensive and often inaccessible, it has become vital to preserve local health traditions. The Medicinal Plants Conservation Centre (MPCC), based in Pune, Maharashtra, has initiated a conservation venture to tackle the 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. "On each MPCA the in situ (in their natural habitat) conservation of medicinal plants, documentation of species, detailed floristic studies and value and use of various plants is being undertaken," says Rajashree Joshi of the MPCC. 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 -- in Vidarbha, Junnar and Amba -- 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. The project was funded by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. Based on the success of the initial project, in 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 who became involved with the conservation project at this stage. 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," observes Joshi. MPCC regularly conducts 'vaidu sammelans' or meetings of traditional rural healers from the various MPCAs. "We have 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," says Joshi. "At the sammelans these healers share their knowledge with each other and with us. Through our own research we have also found other uses for the herbs and plants they know of," she adds. For example, the narkhya tree, grown in the Amboli MPCA, has anti-carcinogenic properties, a fact the villages were unaware of earlier. 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. Though happy about the award, Elkunchwar says he views it more as recognition for the movement, rather than as individual success. He credits the remarkable structure of the project, as conceived by Darshan Shankar of the FRLHT, as being largely responsible for this success. Meanwhile, MPCC is optimistic that the 21-month project which has ended will soon receive funding from UNDP under its Country Cooperation Fund-2 Project. Contact: F-3, Radhakrisha Apartments,
Second Floor, 425/84,
Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth Colony,
Mukundnagar, Pune 411037.
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-- Lisa Batiwalla
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