Medicinal plant resources: Threat to its biodiversity and conservation strategies

Abstract

Today more than half of the population in developing world doesn't have access to adequate healthcare services. This may be due to the fact that poor people neither have access to nor could afford the modern healthcare services. Medicinal plants provide an innovative and alternative remedy with remarkable opportunities by not only providing them access and affordable medicine, but they can also generate income and employment from these resources. Plant products are not only used in traditional healthcare but also as raw material in the formulation of modern medicine. Due to increasing demand for medicinal plants and the growth of human population, a constant pressure is created on existing resources which lead to continuous depletion and extinction of some of the species in the wild, and on the other hand, natural wild flora is being lost at an alarming rate. So, for the conservation of medicinal plant species, several proposals have been put forward in different parts of the world. This includes the in situ conservation by establishing preservation areas and cultivation, as well as projects including botanical gardens and gene banks in ex situ conservation. There is a dire need to investigate the factors which can work as preventive measures to redress these activities or provide the information about the extent they are seditious to sustainability of medicinal plants in a particular area. Therefore, it is important to work for the conservation and sustainable utilization of medicinal plant resources so as to save this valuable heritage.