Quantitative survey of medicinal plants in six medicinal plant conservation areas of Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFPs) as medicinal and aromatic plants provide convenient and easy source of income for rural people. Due to human interference, over exploitation and indiscriminate harvest, IUCN, WWF and others have red listed them. FRLHT along with State Forest Department in India established in-situ conservation sites of medicinal plants known as Medicinal Plants Conservation Areas (MPCAs). Due to the richness of medicinal plants, the state of Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand) in 2003 was declared as ‘Herbal State’. Under UNDP-GEF-GOI funded project for long term conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants, seven MPCAs were selected in Uttarakhand. Out of seven, six MPCAs were sampled by the author using nested quadrates technique for sampling of medicinal plants.