Sharing Local And National Experience In Conservation Of Medicinal And Aromatic Plants In South Asia

Contributed papers presented at the Regional Workshop on "Sharing Local and National Experience in Conservation of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in South Asia", held on January 21-23, 2001, at Pokhara, Nepal.

Original studies address key aspects of the conservation and biodiversity of plants. Articles are all peer-reviewed primary research papers, contributed by leading biodiversity researchers from around the world. Collectively, these articles provide a snapshot of the major issues and activities in global plant conservation. Many of the articles can serve as excellent case studies for courses in ecology, restoration, biodiversity, and conservation.

Research in recent years has increasingly shifted away from purely academic research, and into applied aspects of the discipline, including climate change research, conservation, and sustainable development. It has by now widely been recognized that “traditional” knowledge is always in flux and adapting to a quickly changing environment. Trends of globalization, especially the globalization of plant markets, have greatly influenced how plant resources are managed nowadays. While ethnobotanical studies are now available from many regions of the world, no comprehensive encyclopedic series focusing on the worlds mountain regions is available in the market. Scholars in plant sciences worldwide will be interested in this website and its dynamic content. The field (and thus the market) of ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology has grown considerably in recent years. Student interest is on the rise, attendance at professional conferences has grown steadily, and the number of professionals calling themselves ethnobotanists has increased significantly (the various societies, like the Society for Economic Botany, the International Society of Ethnopharmacology, the Society of Ethnobiology, and the International Society for Ethnobiology currently have thousands of members). Growth has been most robust in BRIC countries. This new MRW on Ethnobotany of the Himalayas takes advantage of the increasing international interest and scholarship in the field of mountain research. It includes the best and latest research on a full range of descriptive, methodological, theoretical, and applied research on the most important plants in the Himalayas. Each contribution is scientifically rigorous and contributes to the overall field of study.

Crop losses by pests (insects, diseases and weeds) are as old as plant themselves but as agriculture are intensified and cropping patterns including the cultivation of high yielding varieties and hybrids are changing over time the impact of the pests becoming increasingly important. Approximately less than 1000 insect species (roughly 600-800 species), 1500 -2000 plant species, numerous fungal, bacterial and nematode species as well as viruses are considered serious pests in agriculture. If these pests were not properly controlled, crop yields and their quality would drop, considerably. In addition production costs as well as food and fiber prices are increased. The current book is going to put Plant Protection approaches in perspective.

Results of regular monitoring of the species diversity and structure of plant communities is used by conservation biologists to help understand impacts of perturbations caused by humans and other environmental factors on ecosystems worldwide. Changes in plant communities can, for example, be a reflection of increased levels of pollution, a response to long-term climate change, or the result of shifts in land-use practices by the human population. This book presents a series of essays on the application of plant biodiversity monitoring and assessment to help prevent species extinction, ecosystem collapse, and solve problems in biodiversity conservation. It has been written by a large international team of researchers and uses case studies and examples from all over the world, and from a broad range of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The book is aimed at any graduate students and researchers with a strong interest in plant biodiversity monitoring and assessment, plant community ecology, biodiversity conservation, and the environmental impacts of human activities on ecosystems.

The book provides valuable information on wild plants and their ethnopharmacological properties, discussion on ethnobotany, phytotherapy, diversity, chemical and pharmacological properties including antifungal, anti-inflammatory and antiprotozal properties. The chapters include a wide range of case studies, giving updated evidence on importance of wild plant resources from different countries including Nepal, India, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Egypt, Peru, etc. In addition, some specific species are used to explain their potential properties. Discussing traditional usage and pharmacological properties of wild plants, this book is entirely different from other related publications and useful for the researchers working in the areas of conservation biology, botany, ethnobiology, ethnopharmacology, policy making, etc.

In the Indian context.