Conserving medicinal plants is need of the hour: Forest Officer

Mysore/Mysuru: Maintaining that everyone of us have the responsibility of conserving our vanishing medicinal plants, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Madhu Sharma observed that excessive usage of chemical fertilisers and weedicides are making an adverse impact on soil.

She was speaking at the third Divisional Co-ordination Workshop organised jointly by Karnataka State Medicinal Plants Authority, Karnataka Biodiversity Board and Botany Department of the University of Mysore (UoM), at the Department of Studies (DoS) in Botany, Manasagangothri, here on Friday.

Stressing on the need for creating awareness on the benefits of medicinal plants, Madhu Sharma said that medicinal plants are found in plenty in forest areas. But unfortunately these plants are smuggled out of forests and as such, the Forest staff must be adequately trained on conserving these plants, which are of great medicinal value. Regretting that industrialisation too has contributed a lot for loss of medicinal plants, she opined that climate change too has an impact on medicinal plants.

Former Vice-Chancellor Prof. S.R. Niranjan said that Botanical Scientists have discovered more than 2,000 species of medicinal plants and it is important that manufacturers of medicine and researchers transform them for public benefit. He also wanted the Government to allocate more funds for conservation of medicinal plants.

UoM Registrar Prof. R. Shivappa opined that the present generation, especially in urban areas, has little knowledge about medicinal plants.

Stressing on the need for educating our children on medicinal and fruit-bearing plants, he called for organised documentation of cooking practices that are prevalent in rural areas for the past several decades.

APCCF B.A. Sudarshan said that the opinions, observations and suggestions that come up at this workshop will be collated and documented in vision document. APCCF Anitha S. Arekal, Government Ayurveda Research Centre Assistant Director Dr. Lakshminarayan Shenoy, DoS in Botany Chairman Dr. K.N. Amrutesh, faculty Dr. Rajkumar Garampalli, Prabhu and others were present.