Medicinal Plants Based Forest Management : Problems and Prospects

Global trade of Medicinal Plants is worth US $ 60 billion and is increasing at the rate of 7% per year. This has led to scarcity of medicinal plants in natural forests. Many national and international organisations have opined that the sustainable management of medicinal plants has a potential for income generation sand poverty alleviation provided that the resources are extracted sustainably. However, there is lack of information on inventory methods, safe harvest limits, regeneration status and management prescriptions, which are essential for management of this important resource in natural forests. This is attributed to traditional forest management systems, which are timber oriented. The characteristic features of medicinal plants are described and it is argued that some modifications are required in traditional forest management to make it suitable for management of medicinal plants in natural forests.