Access to MedicinalPlants in IORA Countries

International Conference on India and the Indian Ocean: Renewing Maritime Trade & Civilisational Linkages, 20-22 March, 2015, Bhubaneswar, Session III A on Sectoral Cooperation

T C James

Consultant, RIS

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Importance of Medicinal Plants 1

• Source of safe and effective health care locally– An important ingredient of traditional medicine

systems and home remedies– Majority depends on Medicinal Plants for primary

healthcare• More than 80 % population in south Asia uses plant-based

medicines• Primary health care for more than 75 % world population

(WHO)• In veterinary care medicinal plants account for around 75 –

80 % in many countries

– An important food supplement

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Importance of Medicinal Plants 2

• Provides livelihood to large number of people

– Employment opportunities

• A major ingredient of protecting biodiversity and environment

• Contribute indirectly to ecosystem conservation by generating more local interest

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Importance of Medicinal Plants 3

• Extensive use in pharmaceutical, cosmetics and beauty products

• More than 40 % of licensed drugs are of plant origin

• Reliable raw material and knowledge base for drug development.

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Some Facts

• Globally around 21,000 medicinal plants (WHO study)

• Sources - Wild plants and cultivated plants

• World herbal trade is around $ 120 billion

• Growing at about 7 %

• May reach $ 7 trillion by 2050

• Trade in herbals and botanicals as medicine ‘supplements’ is about $ 20 billion and also has share in the trade in ‘functional foods and drinks’

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India-specific

• Around 6000-7000 medicinal plants in India are used in folk medicine and TM

• About 960 species of them are in trade

• Annual consumption of 178 species exceeds 100 MT

• Account for about Rs 10 billion in export.

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Issues

• Quantity and Quality Issues• QUANTITY ISSUES• Commercial trade and international consumption• Unsustainable Exploitation

– Absence of regulation on access in many countries– Indiscriminate harvesting, particularly from the wild– Many medicinal plants are endangered– Planting of exotic varieties some time adversely affect

TMPs– Loss of associated traditional knowledge– Large scale deforestation

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Issues

• QUALITY ISSUES

• Declining Quality

– Absence of standards

– Safety and Efficacy of Medicines and beauty care products

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IORA Initiatives

• Salalah (Oman) Declaration on Applied Research, Technology Transfer and Commercialisation of Medicinal Plants and Herbal Medicine in the Indian Ocean Rim, 2014 at the end of the first meeting of IORA Medicinal Plants Focal Points to enhance regional medicinal plant cooperation through joint activities

• IORA Medicinal Plants and Herbal Medicine Standards Committee formed

• IORA Regional Centre for Science and Technology Transfer (RCSTT) established the IORA Medicinal Plants Network (IORAMPNET ), an interactive, electronic medicinal plants databank. Currently the network contains 34 topics which cover variable indexes in this area.

• Second Meeting of Medicinal Plants Focal Points of IORA RCSTT, Lucknow, India, March 18-19, 2015

• Focus on quality and standardization of medicinal plants.

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Challenges Ahead

• Meeting the increasing demand

– Upsurge in the demand for extracted medicinal plants from the wild

• Regulating the trade

– Ensuring quality and standardisation

• Need to frame strategy for conservation and sustainable use

• Developing comprehensive database

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IORC Cooperation Way Forward 1

• Policy and Strategy– National Policy and Strategy Formulation– Conservation and Sustainable Use of medicinal plants

and ABS mechanisms– Strengthening benefit sharing mechanisms in ATK– Implementation of CBD and Nagoya Protocol– Focussed promotion of cultivation of medicinal plants

and their sustainable use– Sustainable harvest protocols– Recognition of traditional medicines and inclusion of

the same in national health policies

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IORC Cooperation Way Forward 2

• Legislation

– National Laws

– Regulatory Framework

– Protocols to ensure quality and efficacy

• Research

– Collaborative research in medicinal plants

– Partnership and networking

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IORC CooperationWay Forward 3

• Development of databases

– Inventorisation

– Examples from India

• People’s Biodiversity Registers

• Traditional Knowledge Digital Library

– Dissemination of information

– Prevention of patenting of medicinal plants and ATK

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IORC CooperationWay Forward 4

• Capacity building for country level initiatives

– Transfer of Technology

– Sharing of country experiences

– IPR

– Gene bank

– Quality and standardisation.

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