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Prioritization and Conservation of Himalayan Medicinal Plants: Angelica glauca Edgew. as a case study Anil Kumar Bisht, Arvind Bhatt, R. S. Rawal and Uppeandra Dhar Research Abstract The present study broadly supports the need for conser- As a result, their distribution is scattered and restricted to vation initiatives for Himalayan medicinal plants. An ap- small areas. proach is set up for prioritization grading of the importance of medicinal plants that is based upon the knowledge of During the last few decades, the considerable increase local communities about the species. The study of Hima- in the human population has put tremendous pressure layan medicinal plants in general and Angelica glauca on medicinal plants all across the Himalaya. This has se- Edgew. in particular reveals that the utilization pattern, verely affected the natural habitats of these plants. The increasing demand of herbal drugs in developing as well traditional knowledge base and trade of medicinal plants as developed countries has resulted in the steady in- show trends that are not ideal for sustainability in the Indi- crease in the number of pharmaceutical companies. This an Himalaya. The research attempts to integrate the anal- has in turn increased the demand for raw plant material. ysis of several aspects of Himalayan trade in medicinal As a result traders at various levels have started exploit- plants to reveal the threat to the plants and to suggest ing the plant resources indiscriminately. Several reports ways to overcome the problem. about usage of medicinal plants from the Himalaya re- gion suggest that greater than 90% of raw material for Introduction pharmaceutical companies is drawn from natural habitats (Gupta et al. 1998, Tandon 1996, Ved et al. 1998). The people of the Himalaya inherit a wide range of tradi- tions, dialects, beliefs and cultures. Indigenous commu- In the context of medicinal plant conservation, documen- nities living in the region have learned to utilize the re- tation of traditional knowledge can be helpful. It has been sources around them in many ways. One way plant re- reported that tribes not only exploit their bio-resources for sources are used is for the treatment of diseases. In gen- meeting basic needs, but are also aware of the conse- quences of ruthless exploitation of their surrounding re- eral medicinal plants are also getting wide attention and recognition throughout global markets. The use of herbal medicine, the dominant form of medical treatment in de- veloping countries, is increasing in developed countries in recent years (British Medical Association 1993). Accord- Correspondence ing to the estimates of WHO, over 80% of people in devel- Anil Kumar Bisht, Arvind Bhatt, R. S. Rawal and Uppeandra oping countries depend upon traditional medicine for their Dhar, Conservation of Biological Diversity Core, G. B. Pant primary health care. One possible reason for this is the Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Kosi- Katarmal, Almora- 263 643 (UA), INDIA. perception of them having lesser side effects (Farnsworth [email protected] & Soejarto 1991, Kamboj 2000). Most of the high altitude medicinal plants of Himalaya, of which medicinal extracts are derived, are habitat specific (Dhar et al. 2000). These are also subject to high grazing Ethnobotany Research & Applications 4:011-023 (2006) pressure and different kinds of anthropogenic pressures. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/234 12 Ethnobotany Research & Applications sources and have their own means of sustainable exploi- Study Area and Methods tation of their resources. However, up scaling demand for plant raw material coupled with handsome incentives as- To address the first set of objectives, the study was con- sociated with increased extraction might motivate them to ducted in two different states, Uttaranchal and Himachal over exploit the same resources for short-term gain. Pradesh, in the Indian Himalaya region. Six villages, each from Uttaranchal (Hudu, Ousara, Dara, Makku, Khati and In spite of the fact that there are earlier attempts to docu- Vaccham) and Himachal (Pullag, Rumshu, Barsaini, Syan- ment the use of medicinal plants in indigenous medici- sa, Jhulling, Sissu) were identified for detailed study. Infor- nal systems (Ambasht & Joshi 1996, Chauhan 1999, Dey mation on demographics (age, gender) and ethnobotanical 1980, Dhar et al. 2000, Modden 1969, Nadkarni 1998, Rai information (medicinal plant species and uses) was gath- & Sharma 1994, Samant et al.1998, Shah, 1981, Sivara- ered from each village with the help of semi-structured, jan & Bala Chandra 1994, Thakur et al. 1989), very few close-ended questionnaires (Appendix 1). Respondents studies in India have described the linkages and relation- from different villages were selected at random, however, ships of traditional knowledge, use patterns and people’s while doing so, age class was taken into consideration so perception of conservation issues with regard to the avail- that half the number of respondents selected were greater ability of the species used. In view of these gaps, the pres- than 50 years of age and half less than 50 years of age. ent study focuses on two sets of objectives. The first set Assessment of traditional knowledge across gender and envisages to: age classes was done on the basis of number of medici- nal plants known to an individual divided by total number i) assess traditional knowledge specifically with of medicinal plants known to the particular group (male/fe- regard to gender, age and center of occurrence; male and >50 years old/<50 years old). ii) identify and prioritize potential medicinal plants of the two centers (states); Identification of plants was done by comparing specimens iii) study comparative utilization patterns across of taxa identified by the respondents and collected from genders and centers of occurrence, and the field with those in the G.B. Pant Institute Herbarium iv) assess the trade of medicinal plants in two and Botany Department Kumaon University Herbarium. centers (states). The voucher specimens were deposited in the herbaria of GBPIHED, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora. Also, the study identifies a critically endangered (Anony- mous 1997a, Mamgain et al. 1998) Himalayan perennial Potential medicinal plants were sorted using a priority in- herb, Angelica glauca Edgew. (Apiaceae) as an example dex that was assigned based on the percentage of infor- of the kinds of problems seen with medicinal plants in the mants in each village having knowledge of the particular region. The plant is a prioritized medicinal plants of west- species. The species were then classified into four priority ern Himalaya and ranks number three in the list of 52 me- categories (A-D) (see Table 1) based upon the percent of dicinal plants prioritized for consultation and conservation people having an awareness of their usage with the most (Sastry & Chatterjee 2000). This plant serves as the focus widely known plants receiving the highest preference of the second set of objectives, which attempt to: rank. In this case a high preference rank implies a plant of potentially high conservation concern. i) examine comparative utilization patterns of the species between two major centers of its occur- Trade potential of medicinal plants was assessed by in- rence; terviewing villagers on use patterns (domestic consump- ii) document the traditional knowledge base tion, trade only, and both). Information on use patterns across the centers on the basis of gender and was also computed on percentage basis. The results age classes; were then used to compare the two centers. Medicinal iii) record peoples perception on its status and plants from different regions of Uttaranchal and Himachal trade. Pradesh were surveyed for their current market value (in Indian rupees) and were compared with the values col- Our understanding was such that the two sets of objec- lected from secondary sources. tives were intended to either reconfirm or cancel each other thus strengthening the results. Angelica glauca was To address the second set of objectives a second study selected in view of its multiple uses (spice, medicine, and was carried out in selected locations in states of Himachal other). We considered that in view of its multiple utility, Pradesh and Uttaranchal. The study was conducted in 9 that the response rate across social demographics of age villages, of which 4 (Lata, Khati, Wacham and Bamri) are and gender would be higher than if we had focused on a in Uttaranchal (UA) and 5 (Badeiragra, Kothi, Shansha, species with only a single use. Sissu and Jholing) are in Himachal Pradesh (HP). The un- even number of villages selected for study was due to the limited number of sites of occurrences of A. glauca in UA. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/234 Bisht et al. - Prioritization and Conservation of Himalayan Medicinal Plants: 13 Angelica glauca Edgew. as a case study Data was collected on the number of sites of occurrence Utilization of Angelica glauca near each village, use pattern, distribution of knowledge, people’s perceptions on status. The perspectives of indi- Figure 2 shows the utilization patterns of Angelica glauca viduals who were randomly encounter in the study areas in Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh as a spice, medi- were also determined, particularly focusing on their per- cine, or other uses. Table 4 illustrates the distribution of spectives on trade. All individuals were questioned using knowledge about Angelica glauca across the populations a structured, close-ended questionnaire (Appendix 1). interviewed. From each village 15 men, 15 women and 10 random- ly encountered individuals (who could be either gender, Discussion resident or nonresident of the same village) were inter- viewed individually. Additional aspects of the field meth- (a) Medicinal Plant Knowledge odology are listed as noted below: Of the total recorded medicinal plants from both the states (i) Comparative use patterns: Four categories of use (Appendix 2), the higher number was recorded in Utta- were used to sort the responses about use: spice, medi- ranchal.

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