EFFORTS ON CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF MEDICINAL PLANTS OF PAKISTAN

Since the beginning of civilization, and perhaps as early as Neanderthal man, people have used plants as medicine. Evidence indicates that people used plants to cure themselves, e. g. Chinese Emperor (2800 BC); Babylon (1770 BC); Ancient Egypt (1550 BC). Islamic and Indian physicians also wrote many works prior to 1100 AD and the Seals from the Harappan site in Pakistan (2000 BC) also indicate use of plants. New aspects of medicinal plants need to be studied. For example, we should address the question "why plant diversity declines, when plants with weedy traits become more abundant". This is consequently followed by, species that have traits permitting their persistence in degraded and species-poor ecosystems which are likely to carry high pathogen and vector burdens. Indigenous communities of Pakistan play a vital role in conservation of medicinal plants. Intentionally or unintentionally, people have evolved strategies for doing so in the form of rituals, beliefs and taboos. Various traditional harvesting methods described in one of the study suggest that they were efficient to utilize the natural resources. Our efforts are towards not only providing food security, nutrition and health care to the tribal people, but also to recover, record and diffuse local botanical knowledge and wisdom.