Case Studies UNDP: MEDICINAL PLANTS CONSERVATION CENTRE, India

7/27/2019 Case Studies UNDP: MEDICINAL PLANTS CONSERVATION CENTRE, India

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Equator Initiative Case StudiesLocal sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities

India

MEDICINAL PLANTSCONSERVATION CENTRE

Empowered live

Resilient nation


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UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES

Local and indigenous communities across the world are advancing innovative sustainable development solutions that wo

or people and or nature. Few publications or case studies tell the ull story o how such initiatives evolve, the breadth

their impacts, or how they change over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with community practition

themselves guiding the narrative.

To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Equator Initiative aims to ll this gap. The ollowing case study is one in a growing ser

that details the work o Equator Prize winners vetted and peer-reviewed best practices in community-based environmenconservation and sustainable livelihoods. These cases are intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to take local succ

to scale, to improve the global knowledge base on local environment and development solutions, and to serve as models

replication. Case studies are best viewed and understood with reerence to The Power o Local Action: Lessons rom 10 Years

the Equator Prize, a compendium o lessons learned and policy guidance that draws rom the case material.

Click on the map to visit the Equator Initiatives searchable case study database.

EditorsEditor-in-Chie: Joseph Corcoran

Managing Editor: Oliver HughesContributing Editors: Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Erin Lewis, Whitney Wilding

Contributing WritersEdayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Toni Blackman, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Larissa Currado, Sarah Gordon, Oliver Hughe

Wen-Juan Jiang, Sonal Kanabar, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Rachael Lader, Patrick Lee, Erin Lewis, Jona Liebl, Mengning Ma,

Mary McGraw, Gabriele Orlandi, Juliana Quaresma, Peter Schecter, Martin Sommerschuh, Whitney Wilding, Luna Wu

DesignOliver Hughes, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Amy Korngiebel, Kimberly Koserowski, Erin Lewis, John Mulqueen, Lorena de la Pa

Brandon Payne, Mariajos Satizbal G.

AcknowledgementsThe Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude the Medicinal Plants Conservation Centre (MPCC), and in particular the guida

and inputs o Govindaswamy Hariramamurthi, FRLHT. All photo credits courtesy o Rural Communes, MPCC, and Tiany Franke/Equa

Initiative. Maps courtesy o CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia.

Suggested CitationUnited Nations Development Programme. 2012. Medicinal Plants Conservation Centre, India. Equator Initiative Case Study Series. N

York, NY.
http://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=casestudysearch&Itemid=858http://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdf


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PROJECT SUMMARY

Medicinal Plants Conservation Centre encourages

conservation, supports local livelihoods and improves the

health o rural communities in the Indian state o Maharashtra,

ocusing on the revitalization o traditional health practices

and use o medicinal plants. In cooperation with the state

Forest Department, and with local communities in the lead,

MPCC uses nurseries and commercial herbal production

centers to sell sustainably cultivated medicinal plants.

The organization oversees a network o 13 medicinal plant

conservation areas, which cover an area o over 200 ha.Local management committees have ormed to manage

nurseries, and seed unds are provided to initiate production

o herbal drugs as a local enterprise. The establishment o

nurseries, demonstration plots, nature trails, and ecotourism

sites has helped restore traditional health knowledge and

olk traditions associated with medicinal plants.

KEY FACTS

EQUATOR PRIZE WINNER: 2002

FOUNDED: 1999

LOCATION: Maharashtra, India

BENEFICIARIES: 310 members

BIODIVERSITY: 26 threatened plant species

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MEDICINAL PLANTS CONSERVATIONCENTREIndia

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Background and Context 4

Key Activities and Innovations 5

Biodiversity Impacts 6

Socioeconomic Impacts 7

Sustainability 8

Replication 8

Partners 9


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Medicinal plants serve the primary healthcare needs o up to 80

er cent o people in developing countries, where there is an

ncreasing awareness o and demand or medicinal plants or

ealthcare and dietary supplements that oten help to save lives. A

ignicant number o modern pharmaceutical drugs are based on

r derived rom medicinal plants, the majority o which grow wild.

As natural habitats across the world are degraded, overexploited

nd destroyed, however, many medicinal plant species ace threats

o their survival. The role o local communities in conserving these

pecies and preserving traditional knowledge o their uses is vital.

n the Indian state o Maharashtra, many people rely on plants or

ood, medicine and shelter. The Medicinal Plants ConservationCentre (MPCC) in Pune, the states cultural capital, aims to encourage

onservation and development by revitalising traditional health

ractices. In co-operation with local communities, the State

Government Forest Department, and local non-governmental

rganisations, the initiative uses nurseries and commercial herbal

roduction centres to sell sustainably cultivated medicinal plants to

widespread rural audience.

A diverse partnership or medicinal plants conservation

nitially supported by the United Nations Development Programme

UNDP), the MPCC combines scientic research, community

evelopment, and environmental education with sustainablencome generation and the revitalization o traditional medicinal

ractices. The initiative is promoted by the Foundation or

evitalisation o Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) in Bangalore, and

s part o a wider plant conservation network covering ve Indian

tates in more than 50 conservation sites. As a result o their eorts,

round 1,500 varieties o medicinal plants are being conserved,

ncluding 76 highlighted as endangered.

The Medicinal Plant Conservation Centre uses a collabor

approach. The initiative was ocially launched on 31 Decem

1999, with project activities commencing in Maharashtr

February 2002. From the outset, local communities have joined

scientists and local government to gain a better understandin

the status o medicinal plant species in rural Maharashtra. The

o the Centre has allowed tribal communities, previously exclu

rom conservation work, the opportunity to participate in e

to conserve their botanical heritage while reaping the ben

o income generation and improved access to plants needed

healthcare. Collaborative mapping and botanical inventory exer

have laid the oundations or urther conservation work in the s

Today, the MPCC works through a network o thirteen Med

Plant Conservation Areas (MPCAs) throughout Maharashtra S

averaging between 250-400 hectares in size. These sites

cultivated some 50,000 plant specimens across more than

dierent species, including 26 species threatened with extinc

Documentation has been conducted through participa

approaches such as the bareoot botanist programme, Conserv

Assessment and Management Plans, local healers conventions

scientic assessments conducted by eld botanists. The centre

also worked through its network o local healers, scientists, and F

Department sta in Maharashtra to document and disseminate

knowledge o medicinal plants. The MPCAs created through t

projects have been legally recognised by the Maharashtra state department as priority areas or conservation, and have insp

replication in other states. Finally, the centre has also suppo

the establishment o local management committees (LMCs)

womens sel-help groups (SHGs) to enhance the equitable spre

benets rom sustainable commercial herbal production.

Background and Context


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Key Activities and Innovations

he MPCC initiative is implemented through Rural Communes,

n NGO operating a range o initiatives in several states in India

ocussing on conservation, traditional knowledge, and the rights

o tribal communities. In Maharashtra, Rural Communes works

losely with the states Forest Department in promoting local

ntrepreneurial initiatives based on conservation o medicinal

plants. The Centres programme team coordinates all aspects o

dentication, protection, training and promotion concerning

medicinal plants production in Maharashtra State, working through

ts network o MPCAs. These our stages comprise the ollowing:

dentifcation

Around 1,600 fowering plants used in various Indian medicinalystems have been identied and documented. On average, 200 to

00 species have been identied in each MPCA by inormally trained

botanists.

ProtectionThirteen orest areas, each more than 200 hectares in size,

been designated MPCAs containing threatened species o valu

medicine. Within these orest areas, nurseries are used to grow

plants. To date, over 50,000 specimens o 50 dierent species

been cultivated, including 26 threatened species. Local Manage

Committees have been ormed within each conservation are

prevent res, grazing, or other destructive activities and to ma

the nurseries.

TrainingSel-help uses o medicinal plants and processing technique

production o herbal medicines are taught by the MPCC to management committees, particularly ocussing on women

villages in the conservation areas.

PromotionState-wide workshops eaturing scientists, teachers, olk he

and suppliers have led to the identication o 26 medicinal p

species at high risk o extinction. Packages o 10-15 impo

medicinal plants have been distributed to thousands o househ

or domestic healthcare use, encouraging their ex-situ conserv

by rural amilies.

Medicinal Plant Conservation Areas are selected thro

consultations with the Forest Department, local communities

available scientic literature. In general, the sites are relat

undisturbed orest areas representing dierent bioclimatic zo

are rich in biological diversity; are oten micro-watershed

otherwise contain natural sources o water; and are locally kn

or harbouring medicinal plants. In this way, designation o t

areas has been partly driven by local knowledge on their biolo

richness, tapping a traditional source o knowledge on ge

diversity and its uses. These sites have then subsequently

legally recognised by Maharashtra state.

Fig. 1: Rural Communes Project Sites

Medicinal Plant Conservation Areas in green. Source: Rural Communes


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Impacts

BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS

The MPCC project was initiated with the primary goal o in-situ

onservation o medicinal plants in Medicinal Plant Conservation

Areas. Since these thirteen MPCAs have been designated as

ustainable local use areas, however, they have played an important

ole in the conservation o other fora and auna, eectively

preserving the integrity o entire local ecosystems.

Ater the initial success o conservation within MPCAs, the centre

has pioneered ex-situ conservation o medicinal plants, encouraging

ocal armers to conduct trials o locale-specic medicinal plants.

chool and village herbal gardens are also evolving, engagingchool communities and village communities on a wider scale or

ultivation o medicinal plants.

The main conservation achievements o the project in its early

years included the creation o its network o MPCAs, including

high degrees o foral and medicinal plants diversity within their

boundaries. Over 1,200 botanical surveys covering 45% o these

MPCAs were completed, leading to the production o herba

records or 804 species. Systematic data on medicinal prope

and local uses were also documented on 326 plants; a unique ill

specic database o more than 265 plants has been developed b

on these data. Documentation o medicinal plants has also ena

targeted conservation o threatened species. Using the IUCN

List categories, 26 species were classied as critically endang

endangered, or vulnerable.

One o the critical elements in eectively saeguarding the sp

ound within MPCAs has been raising environmental awarene

local communities, who have also played an active role in monito

biological diversity and disseminating inormation on key speFor example, 60 percent o MPCAs have put in place signs and

trails to educate the local population. Eleven demonstration gar

have also assisted in this task, while ten MPCAs have been equi

with basic interpretation centres displaying exhibits on medi

plants. Local healers and village botanists have been supplied

herbarium records; in some cases, these have been displaye

village schools.

Table 1: MPCAs contributions to medicinal plant conservation in Maharashtra State.

IndicatorReported in

Maharashtra

Found in

MPCAs% of total reported in Maharashtra

# o fowering

plant amilies187 115 61.5

# o fowering

plant genera1081 500 46.3

# o fowering

plant species3025 850 28

# o medicinal

plants2100 470 22.4

The table illustrates the extent to which MPCAs constitute a signifcant gene pool o plant diversity in Maharashtra. Source: Shukla, S. 2004


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SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS

Social and economic benets can be seen most clearly in two broad

categories. Firstly, the project has had a signicant impact on the

welare o rural households through popularising low-cost alternative

healthcare options. This has led to signicant improvements in the

health and nutrition o poor rural populations.

A second, indirect benet o the centres work has been themprovement o livelihood options in socially-disadvantaged

communities, leading to some economic improvements or local

communities in Maharashtra. For instance, local management

committees have been provided with loans o 50,000 rupees rom a

evolving und to initiate production o herbal drugs. Local enterprise

development has also been boosted by technical assistance and

capacity building activities, including market inormation surveys

or selected plants and their products, training programs or SHGs

on costing or nished products, hands-on demonstrations on

abelling o herbal products, and supply o equipment or ecient

drying and storage o medicinal plants, or instance. In one MPCA,

an ecotourism enterprise has been initiated by the LMC members,

who operate as eco-guides using the trails within the orested area.

A ocus on women producers

Womens sel-help groups were also given seed unding o Rs. 5,000

or developing income-generating activities. In some cases this has

allowed the groups to establish credibility to borrow larger unds

rom local banks to scale up their activities. Greater economic sel-

eliance or the women o these groups is one outstanding result

o the work o the MPCC. The status o more than three hundred

women in these MPCAs has been improved through various

capacity building initiatives organized or the empowerment o

SHGs. These groups have also benetted rom knowledge exchange

within the MPCA network. Members have had the opportunity to

participate in training visits to other LMC and SHG sites, ena

them to witness the innovative experiments being carried ou

ellow communities. More than 50 LMC and 310 members o S

have beneted rom cross-MPCA exchanges. Best practice c

have also been recognised and had their innovations showcase

the MPCC.

The project has substantially contributed to the improveme

health care or the poorest o poor regions o Maharashtra Swhere access to modern medical acilities is either non-existe

inadequate. The establishment o nurseries, demo garden, na

trails, ecotourism and other innovative activities by sel-

groups and local management committees has helped restore

traditional health knowledge and olk traditions associated

local health improvement. The savings generated by the availa

o improved local health options has also contributed to impro

the wellbeing o poor and socioeconomically disadvant

communities in and around MPCAs.

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Table 2: Womens self-help groups

Name of MPCA # of SHGs # of womeGadmauli 4 40

Bhaskaracharya 2 35

Sawarna 1 41

Amboli 7 57

Navaja 4 40

Vasai 1 18

Honyakoli 2 30

Amba 5 >60

Toranmaal 2 40

Source: Shukla, S. 2004


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Sustainability and Replication

SUSTAINABILITYhe initiative has generated new co-management possibilities

hrough its eects in empowering rural communities. For example,

he community at Amboli stopped the illegal extraction o the Narkya

lant (Nothopodytes nimmoniana) an endangered species by

utside traders. In another case, the local management committee

ncouraged the village community o Bhaskaracharya MPCA to cease

legal cutting o the highly valuable sandalwood tree (Santalum spp.)

rom the MPCA. The Gullarghat MPCA has successully controlled

xcessive grazing o the orested area by villagers and outside

erders. Finally, the local management committee in Sawarna MPCA

mobilised community members to conduct night patrols to protecthe areas valuable medicinal plants and wildlie.

hese community-driven initiatives have laid the oundation or

artnerships with the Forest Department in sustainable management

orest biodiversity and ecosystems. The organization o village

women in the orm o a sel-sustained network o SHGs has also

rovided a strong example or the governments rural development

gencies that women can be mobilized through linking conservation

nd development.

he inormal network o village botanists across the MPCA network

as been used in scientic monitoring exercises such as Conservation

Assessment and Management Plans, while individuals have beenecognized by the state orest department as useul resources or

nowledge-based conservation. The capacity-building and learning

pportunities created by the initiative at the village, district and

tate levels have given the project a high degree o resilience and

nternal momentum, making it an adaptable and sel-sustaining

olution to broader challenges o conservation and development

n Maharashtra. The Forest Department is planning to expand the

oncept o MPCAs in other regions o the state, and ultimately

hrough other Indian states.

REPLICATIONThe initiative itsel emerged rom a process o replication within I

based on the idea o expanding an earlier project o the Found

or Revitalization o Public Health Traditions (FRLHT) with

support o Rural Communes and the state orest department a

regional level. Trainings and capacity building in project areas

provided by local and outside experts to community members

government agents at various stages o the project implementa


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he project was based on FRLHTs earlier work in Kerala, Karnataka

nd Tamil Nadu states, begun in 1993. FRLHT established three MPCAs

n Maharashtra through partnership with the orest department

etween 1997 and 2000 with unding support rom a local NGO, the

ir Dorabji Tata Trust. The NGO had developed and demonstrated

he potential o their model o community health improvement and

velihood generation through the conservation and sustainable use

medicinal plants. The organisations expansion plan through the

MPCC, backed by unding support rom UNDP, created the platormor the partnership initiative. A series o workshops at the state level

etween partnering NGOs and the state Forest Department was

eld to prepare and nalize action plans. The criteria or identiying

MPCA were jointly decided in these meetings.

he project also benetted rom the experience o senior orest

epartment ocials who had previously worked with FRLHT, and

heir amiliarity with community-based conservation activities. The

onviction and commitment o orest department ocials was an

mportant stimulus or the projects conception, allied to a strong

evel o buy-in rom local communities.

PARTNERS

he state Forest Department supplied inrastructure and sta

upport or the project in the beginning through their eld oces

t the sub-district levels. The existing sta o Rural Communes

Mumbai oce also helped in initially mobilising communities, w

FRLHT and other agencies helped to support early capacity buil

activities.

The local eld sta o the Forest Department identied suit

training NGOs; state agencies including the District R

Development Agency and local NGOs such as Swayamsid

and Shrmajivi Sangathan provided partial voluntary suppo

organizing trainings or the local village management commitand sel-help group members.

Local orest ocials and orest guards, meanwhile, have he

to establish demo gardens at select MPCAs. Individuals rom

orest department and retired ocials rom the state departme

science and technology helped in proposal writing. At the local l

individuals volunteered in helping to register local managem

committees as cooperatives.

There were no direct pre-existing relationships between t

dierent actors, while only some o the individuals had

experience o, or exposure to community development activ

Rural Communes had developed a working relationship

government departments through its earlier health, child

gender work, however, and FRLHT had also developed a st

partnership with state orest departments in southern India, ma

these two innovative civil society organizations suitable candid

or developing similar partnerships in Maharashtra.


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Equator Initiative

Environment and Energy GroupUnited Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

304 East 45th Street, 6th Floor

New York, NY 10017

Tel: +1 646 781 4023

www.equatorinitiative.org

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UNs global development network, advocating or change

onnecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better lie.

The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, businesses and grassroots organizati

o recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions or people, nature and resilient communities.

2012 by Equator Initiative

All rights reserved

FURTHER REFERENCE

Shukla, S. 2004. Lessons rom the Equator Initiative: Rural Communes Medicinal Plant Conservation Center, Pune, India. IDRC and U

Berkes, F. and Seixas, C. S. 2004. Lessons rom Community Sel-Organization and Cross-Scale Linkages in Four Equator Initiative Proj

IDRC and UNDP.

MPCC PhotoStory (Vimeo) vimeo.com/15671395 (English) vimeo.com/15671644 (Marathi)

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Case Studies UNDP: MEDICINAL PLANTS CONSERVATION CENTRE, India