Lost in the jungle, don't worry, look out for water-trees
By: Dipankar Chakraborty
The rapid expansion of human habitat deep into the fragile biodiversity of Western Ghats hotspots and extension of tea, coffee, cardamom and rubber plantations into dense humid forest regions have taken a heavy toll on the flora and fauna, including a large variety of aromatic plants, and the pristine forest cover of the region's delicate ecosystem.
This has been the finding of two Bengaluru-based scientists — Kavitha Sagar, a UGC postdoctoral fellow in Botanical Garden division of the University of Agricultural Sciences, and RR Rao, a well-known environmental scientist and former associate professor at the North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya.
The serious state of affairs at the Western Ghats came to light in course of their extensive survey of the region, as part of a joint study on the wild aromatic plants of the region. The scientists pointed out that the Western Ghats had already lost more than 90 per cent of the original forest cover. The traditional knowledge of medicinal and aromatic plants in the Western Ghats has become vulnerable and is being lost faster than any other indigenous intellectual heritage, they said.
Besides the diversity of aromatic species, the joint study also highlights the analysis of major chemical compounds and percentage of essential oils in different populations of some important shortlisted wild aromatic plant species such as Ocimum geatissisinum (African basil), Toddalia asiatica (orange climber), Gaultheria fragrantissima (Indian wintergreen), Hyptis suaveolens (American mint), Chloroxylon swietenia (East Indian satin wood) and a few others.
Raising a big question mark over the fate of the aromatic plants due to fast-shrinking forest space, Sagar says there is an urgent need of ex-situ (removing species from its natural setting) conservatories to protect these nearly 300 species of aromatic plants.
Many of the aromatic plants are yet to be studied and their properties chemically analysed and registered for future uses.
The scientist says such a step is the need of the hour to protect the entire diversity of aromatic plants of the Western Ghats. So far, about 73 aromatic plant species have been established at Bengaluru-based CIMAP (Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants) conservatory. CIMAP, engaged in the field of science and business of medicinal and aromatic plants, is a research institute under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), headquartered in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
Aromatic species Hyptis suaveolens (American mint), Limonia acidissima (wood apple), Pogostemon spp., Atalantia monophylla, Clausena dentate (horsewood), Toddalia asiatica var (orange climber), Floribunda, Plectranthus mollis (soft stem mint leaf), P. malabaricus, Lavandula bipinnata (feather leaved lavender), and Chloroxylon swietenia (East Indian satin wood) with high aromatic content have immense potential for further improvement and exploitation using modern biotechnological tools.
Scientific analysis of many of these aromatic plants have revealed that these plants are not only powerful germicides but also have anti-bacterial properties. The commercial value of these plants, having a wide ranging uses for perfumery and food flavouring industries, add to their importance as a great source of revenue generation for the country.
"A large quantity of the essential oils of the aromatic plants is utilised by the cosmetics, toiletries and allied industries. Commercially well established aromatic species Cymbopogon spp, Pelargonium graveolens L, Pogostemon patchouli L, Rosmarinus officinalis L, Artemisia sp, Vetiveria zizanioides and Mentha spp can yield up to 62 types of essential oils for the international trade," says Rao.
"India's current volume of foreign trade in the aromatic compound and essential oils produced from these plants is around Rs.65 million. This is however a meager 1.6 per cent of the world trade. This calls for the need of further research and development works to make improvements in the aromatic compounds sector," Sagar says.
Both Rao and Sagar, however, rue the fact that conservation of aromatic species has still remained largely neglected, though the same cannot be said of medicinal plants. "As a majority of the aromatic species are confined to roadsides and exposed areas, the existing protected area network of forests of the region may not protect all the wild aromatic species. The spread of alien weeds like Parthenium hysterophorus and Eupatorium spp and Mimosa invisa along the roadsides in the lower elevations and species like Pueraria phaseolioides at higher elevations have especially taken a heavy toll of such aromatic species which prefer exposed but moist roadside habitats. Therefore, we may have to adopt strategies that focus on the conservation of these wild aromatic species," the study says.
The rapid expansion of human habitat deep into the fragile biodiversity of Western Ghats hotspots and extension of tea, coffee, cardamom and rubber plantations into dense humid forest regions have taken a heavy toll on the flora and fauna, including a large variety of aromatic plants, and the pristine forest cover of the region's delicate ecosystem.
This has been the finding of two Bengaluru-based scientists — Kavitha Sagar, a UGC postdoctoral fellow in Botanical Garden division of the University of Agricultural Sciences, and RR Rao, a well-known environmental scientist and former associate professor at the North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya.
The serious state of affairs at the Western Ghats came to light in course of their extensive survey of the region, as part of a joint study on the wild aromatic plants of the region. The scientists pointed out that the Western Ghats had already lost more than 90 per cent of the original forest cover. The traditional knowledge of medicinal and aromatic plants in the Western Ghats has become vulnerable and is being lost faster than any other indigenous intellectual heritage, they said.
Besides the diversity of aromatic species, the joint study also highlights the analysis of major chemical compounds and percentage of essential oils in different populations of some important shortlisted wild aromatic plant species such as Ocimum geatissisinum (African basil), Toddalia asiatica (orange climber), Gaultheria fragrantissima (Indian wintergreen), Hyptis suaveolens (American mint), Chloroxylon swietenia (East Indian satin wood) and a few others.
Raising a big question mark over the fate of the aromatic plants due to fast-shrinking forest space, Sagar says there is an urgent need of ex-situ (removing species from its natural setting) conservatories to protect these nearly 300 species of aromatic plants.
Many of the aromatic plants are yet to be studied and their properties chemically analysed and registered for future uses.
The scientist says such a step is the need of the hour to protect the entire diversity of aromatic plants of the Western Ghats. So far, about 73 aromatic plant species have been established at Bengaluru-based CIMAP (Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants) conservatory. CIMAP, engaged in the field of science and business of medicinal and aromatic plants, is a research institute under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), headquartered in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
Aromatic species Hyptis suaveolens (American mint), Limonia acidissima (wood apple), Pogostemon spp., Atalantia monophylla, Clausena dentate (horsewood), Toddalia asiatica var (orange climber), Floribunda, Plectranthus mollis (soft stem mint leaf), P. malabaricus, Lavandula bipinnata (feather leaved lavender), and Chloroxylon swietenia (East Indian satin wood) with high aromatic content have immense potential for further improvement and exploitation using modern biotechnological tools.
Scientific analysis of many of these aromatic plants have revealed that these plants are not only powerful germicides but also have anti-bacterial properties. The commercial value of these plants, having a wide ranging uses for perfumery and food flavouring industries, add to their importance as a great source of revenue generation for the country.
"A large quantity of the essential oils of the aromatic plants is utilised by the cosmetics, toiletries and allied industries. Commercially well established aromatic species Cymbopogon spp, Pelargonium graveolens L, Pogostemon patchouli L, Rosmarinus officinalis L, Artemisia sp, Vetiveria zizanioides and Mentha spp can yield up to 62 types of essential oils for the international trade," says Rao.
"India's current volume of foreign trade in the aromatic compound and essential oils produced from these plants is around Rs.65 million. This is however a meager 1.6 per cent of the world trade. This calls for the need of further research and development works to make improvements in the aromatic compounds sector," Sagar says.
Both Rao and Sagar, however, rue the fact that conservation of aromatic species has still remained largely neglected, though the same cannot be said of medicinal plants. "As a majority of the aromatic species are confined to roadsides and exposed areas, the existing protected area network of forests of the region may not protect all the wild aromatic species. The spread of alien weeds like Parthenium hysterophorus and Eupatorium spp and Mimosa invisa along the roadsides in the lower elevations and species like Pueraria phaseolioides at higher elevations have especially taken a heavy toll of such aromatic species which prefer exposed but moist roadside habitats. Therefore, we may have to adopt strategies that focus on the conservation of these wild aromatic species," the study says.
No comments:
Post a Comment