Telangana, Andhra Pradesh neglect medicinal plants conservation
AP and Telangana are the only South Indian states that do not have any designated MPDAs
Hyderabad: Along with 1,400 medicinal plants, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are home to about 50 species, which fall in the International Union for Conservation of Nature ‘Red List’. However, neither state has demarcated any Medicinal Plant Development Area (MPDA) for in situ conservation and commercial exploitation of medicinal plants.
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are the only South Indian states that do not have any designated MPDAs.
Another issue in both states is the improper maintenance of Medicinal Plant Conservation Areas (MPCA).
The difference between MPCA and MPDA is that the former is purely for conservation whereas the latter is for careful commercial exploitation.
Medicinal Plant Development Areas are demarcated as buffer zones around MPCAs. Even though AP and Telangana have eight MPCAs of which six fall in Andhra Pradesh, conservation efforts in these areas are invisible and the medicinal plant species in these forests suffer from human interference, degradation of forests and forest fires.
Even though MPCAs are protected sites, medicinal plants are regularly collected from these regions for commercial purposes.
One such example is Lankapakalu MPCA, which is spread over 275 hectare in Narsipatnam forest division. A senior Andhra Pradesh forest department official said, “There is no specific measure or guideline for conservation of medicinal plants in Lankapakalu and general rules apply here like any other forest.”
He added further that, “Locals from nearby villages pluck medicinal plants from the forest and sell it to private players.” It is the same case with other MPCAs too where there are no checks and no set mechanism for protection of medicinal plants.
Only forests that have a rich biodiversity of medicinal plant species are designated as MPCAs. Of the eight MPCAs in the two states, Sukkumamidi in Khammam, Telangana State has the highest number of identified medicinal plant species, 269. In AP K. Kuntlapalli in Anantapur has
the highest with 242 species.
Other MPCAs in the two states include Mallur in Warangal, Coringa and Merudumilli in East Godavari, Peddacheruvu in Kurnool, Talakona in Chittoor and Lankapakalu in Visakhapatnam.