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Overharvesting Killing Life Saving Plants

North east India is a treasure trove of plant species. The region has been ranked as the sixth of the 25 mega diversity hotspot regions of the world. But sadly indiscriminate use of medicinal plants from the region is destroying the biodiversity and leaving little hope for the plants existence in future.

According to North Eastern Development Financial Corporation (NEDFI) there are many pharmaceutical companies that need specific species of plants from the north-east for the preparation of various drugs.

These species are unfortunately resourced from unskilled labourers who are carelessly and indiscriminately uprooting the plants without taking any actions to secure their future growth.

Experts also say that some species have already disappeared from their original habitat.

Many important species are either on the verge of extinction from the region or being threatened because of unawareness of the local people and lack of sustainable utilisation strategies.

More than 70 per cent of the North east is predominantly hilly and having climatic heterogeneity with diverse agro climatic zones.

With a total of about 8,000 species of flowering plants from the Himalayas about 5,000 species are reported from the N-E region.

Till date, more than 1,400 medicinal plants have been reported by different workers and many of them belong to rare, endangered and threatened category and some are even endemic.

Of the rare species used one is “Durik Ada” the root of which is used as spice and condiments.

What is strange is that if the region holds so much significance to pharmaceutical companies, it is imperative for their safe business future too that the plants of the area be saved. Afforestation, strict regulation of plant sourcing and planned planting and harvesting are the need of the hour.

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Reference: Hindubusinessonline Image: Mother earth news

 

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Atula Gupta is the Founder and Editor of indiasendangered.com. Her work has appeared in a number of international websites, dailies and magazines including The Wire, Deccan Herald, New Indian Express, Down to Earth and Heritage India on issues related to environment and its conservation. She is also the author of Environment Science Essentials, a set of books for school children. She hopes this website provides a platform for people to be aware about species in the verge of extinction and heighten their conservation efforts.
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3 thoughts on “Overharvesting Killing Life Saving Plants

  1. i am from arunachal pradesh and i want some help from you can you please help me by sending photos of the endangered species of plants (both medicinal and non- medicinal value) that can grow in the state. what ever findings are done in future your name will be enlisted in the finders name.

    regards,

    rajnik biri

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