G Utkarsh

Local Health Traditions cannot be revitalised without ensuring the health of their medicinal plant resource base. Given that the funds, human resources and efforts available for conserving the resources are limited, it becomes necessary to spend these on priority items. A methodological question raised here is how to prioritise what, where, and how to conserve. This is being addressed worldwide by International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and its allies through rapid and participatory appraisal of its threats. The prime purpose of these rapid assessments include sending signals to the government & the user community of the need for urgent action. Conservation Assessment Medicinal Plants (CAMP) workshops are the best known amongst such appraisals promoted by FRLHT. These are conducted at the level of state or states i.e. regions using the threat criteria suggested by using IUCN guidelines. Lessons from six such workshops in Peninsular India are summarised here in anticipation of its future development and application in northern India. This will help in deepening the processes in the areas covered so far.

Rapid Participatory Appraisal

CAMP workshops are participatory rapid threat assessments that synthesise the first hand perceptions of informed resource users. These workshops aim at detecting threat levels, their causes and corrective management options with respect to sensitive species and important localities. IUCN threat categories primarily assess the probability of the species becoming globally extinct given its small population size to high population decline rate. These estimates are based on the collective opinion of concerned field biologists and managers, besides users such as folk “medicine men” or plant collectors. The methodology has been frequently revised by the Species Survival Commission/ Specialist Group (SSC/G) group of the IUCN for application to several macroscopic organisms. This was popularised in India initially through the CAMP (Conservation Assessment and Management Plan) pioneered by the CBSG (Conservation Breeding Specialist Group) for several organisms ranging from mammals and fish to insects. The methodology has now shifted its focus from the global to the regional level, primarily due to demand from managers for local applications-as often local information matters more than global perception. For instance, a plant perceived to be endangered globally may be locally plentiful and its continued usage at a domestic level may be crucial for sustaining LHTs, even if its commercial harvest may not be sustainable. With this logic, FRLHT has facilitated 6 workshops (during 1995 to 2001) in Peninsular India focussing on medicinal plants. This was with initial guidance from the CBSG. These cover the 5 states separately viz. Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, besides a regional assessment for Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu together.

Assessment Process

A CAMP workshop is preceded by elaborate pre-Camp preparations for about two to three months. To begin with, a list of about hundred species of conservation concern from the focal region is drawn. These are shortlisted if these are known to have narrow geographical distribution (e.g. Red Sanders- Pterocarpus santalinus, confined to only a few S. Indian districts); and/or if the species are known to be highly traded. This list of about a few hundred species of concern is circulated to a few reputed field botanists from the region for trimming it to around 50 species, which are, prima facie, perceived to be the most threatened. They may even make a few additions to the initial list. This prioritised list is then circulated to all invitees for their feedback regarding abundance, reduction levels and causes of reduction of prioritised species in their study area. Their feedback is tabulated in the form of a pre-workshop species summary, for discussion, debate, approval and modifications.

One day before the workshop, the workshop coordination team explains the methodology to the potential group facilitators and plans for the managerial nitty-gritty. The workshop begins by exposing all participants to the methodological nuances, including model discussion of a well-known target species - this is by the whole plenary. The participants then get divided in to 4 to 5 groups of about 10 discussant each, and each group chooses as facilitator a participatory, time-conscious and experienced field botanist. Each group would ideally comprise of participants randomly drawn from all parts of the region- though sometimes a group may represent botanists from a geographical unit for the sake of convenience.

Each group discusses the status, threat level, causes and conservation recommendations for about 10 species, in 5 to 6 hours spanning 2 days. After each group completes its species lot, the assessment sheets are circulated to other groups for review, to be recorded in differently coloured ink by each group. The review of each group's assessments by all other groups is completed in 3-4 hours - this may highlight differences in geographical perceptions if the working groups are geographically divided. The third day is spent in review of each species by the whole gathering during the plenary to address such geographical variations. In the concluding session, the state government officials respond to suggestions by the participants .

Expected Outputs

Post-Camp proceedings include the circulation of the draft report to all participants as well as to non-participants such as government officials - this is for their feedback which is used in revising and finalising the report. The CAMP report can lead to at least two kinds of conservation actions:

Establishment of new conservation areas for threatened species in and around their key populations - especially those that are left out of the existing network of conservation areas e.g. establishment of a conservation area for Janakia arayalpathra, a Western Ghats endemic with very restricted distribution (at Annamalai, Tamil Nadu).

Recovery research and efforts at key population/conservation areas for a few threatened species e.g. wild Nutmeg (Myristica malabarica) around Silent Valley, Kerala. Other likely outputs from a CAMP report may take time and include:

Publicity to threatened medicinal plants highlighting the need for targeted trade vigilance.

Developing an identification guide to traded parts of threatened species to help enhanced vigilance.

Negotiations and action programmes amongst or between research institutions, industries and farmers regarding pilot commercial plantations of key threatened species.

Southern Experience

The aforesaid 6 workshops covering 5 states were held at Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, in the winter season (January to March) during 1995-2001. Over 200 experts contributed their wisdom; 75% of them being field botanists including some college or university teachers, a tenth of the total being forest officials, while industry/ market sources, folk botanists and vaidyas (Ayurvedic physicians) were just 5% each. These workshops assessed about 50 species each, totalling 164 species, as many species were repeated across workshops. Species endemic to Peninsular India (72) accounted for 40% of species assessed while the majority of the species had less than 5% of their global population occurring in the region. A quarter of the species assessed were herbs and climbers each, while trees accounted for a little less than half the total. While 3 species appear to have gone extinct, a tenth are Critically Endangered, while a third each are Endangered and Vulnerable. A quarter of the assessed species is Near-Threatened while a tenth of the species are at Low Extinction risk, despite heavy losses. Causal analysis of threat reveals habitat loss alone affecting a third of the species while habitat loss and harvests together affect a little less than half the assessed species. A quarter of the assessed species are threatened due to very narrow natural distribution coupled to ongoing, human aided habitat fragmentation.

Conservation Prospects

Two thirds of the assessed species are recorded from at least one Medicinal Plants Conservation Area (MPCA) established in the Southern Indian forests by FRLHT and the state forest departments. However, the mere record of a species from an MPCA does not guarantee the presence of its viable population in the MPCA, but only indicates such a possibility in and around an MPCA for future surveys and conservation efforts. 40% of assessed species are not recorded in the MPCA network and have a bleak future in the wild; a third of the species recorded from MPCAs are confined to just one MPCA each, indicating the low scope of their conservation through MPCA networks. Only a quarter of the species are recorded from over 5 MPCAs but these have a strong conservation potential. Thus, the conservation of wild germplasm of about three quarters of the assessed species is an uphill task far exceeding the scope of the current MPCA network.

Management recommendations for the assessed species include a trade or harvest ban for just a tenth of the species facing immediate local extinction. Ex situ conservation is recommended for over two thirds of the species. Cultivation practices exist for only a tenth of the species the rest being entirely harvested from the wild and for which there is neither much cultivation know-how nor much commercial scope today. Only half of the species recommended for cultivation are thus prescribed at a commercial scale - many are being prescribed for just experimental or educational purposes. The level of difficulty in cultivation is expected to be low and medium each for about a third of the species, while it is high and indeterminate each for about a sixth of the species.

G.Utkarsh is a research consultant at the Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Tradtions (FRLHT), and works on the distribution, threat assessment and conservation of medicinal plants and related Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues. He may be contacted at: g.utkarsh@frlht-india.org