The CAMP workshops are a recent phenomenon on the conservation scenario. The first workshop on flora was held in the island of St. Helena, in the Pacific, in May 1993. The second and the first one in India, was held at Bangalore on medicinal plant species of south India in February 1995. This was jointly organized by Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) and CBSG India represented by ZOO Outreach Organisation from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. The workshop assessed 36 medicinal plants and assigned threat status as per IUCN red list categories. This was followed by secoCAMP workshop, in February 1996, which assessed 44 medicinal plants of south India and assigned threat status for 41 species. A third medicinal plants CAMP for south India was conducted in January 1997 for 53 more species. The current red list of medicinal plants of southern India enlists 110 taxa with threat status ranging from Lower Risk – near threatened to Extinct.

CAMP workshop is developed specifically to respond to the need for basic information that reflects in the range states. This is an intensive, interactive and unique process that facilitates objective and systematic prioritisation of research and management actions needed for species conservation. CAMP can be initiated by any wildlife agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or specialist groups. Ten to fourty experts like field botanists, foresters, ecologists, taxonomists, wildlife managers, user group representatives, scientists from various academic communities, persons related to industries and cultivators could be participants of a workshop to evaluate the threat status of all the taxa in a broad group. This can be done for a country or geographic region to set conservation action and information gathering priorities. Participants develop the assessments of risks and formulate recommendations for action using a Taxon Data Sheet that allows recording of detailed information about each taxon under review including data on the status of populations and habitat in the wild as well as recommendations for intensive conservation action. The taxon data sheet is augmented by a spreadsheet that summarises data recorded on the taxon data sheet and provides for rapid review or comparison of taxa.During a CAMP process, the wild and captive statuses for each taxon under consideration are reviewed on a taxon-by-taxon basis. For each taxon, there is an attempt to estimate the total population. It is often very difficult, even agonising, to be numerate because so little quantitative data on population sizes and distribution exists. However, it is often possible to provide order-or-magnitude estimates, like whether the total population is greater or less than the numerical thresholds for the population data used in determining categories of threat. The taxon data sheets include a ‘data quality’ column so that ‘guesstimates’ can be distinguished from population estimates based on systematic documentation. Information on population fragmentation and trends, distribution, as well as habitat changes and environmental stochasticity are also considered. The process might also utilise information compiled by experts on the taxa from published and unpublished sources. For each taxon reviewed, three kinds of assessments and recommendations are made: