Development at the Cost of Flora – How far can we do it?

Plants have been the indispensable materials that have taken care of man right from the point of creation. It has given immense service in different manner clothing, shelter, medicine, etc. Its use especially in the field of healing has been an immense sense of relief for all living organisms. It is infact the main ingredient of many medications that have been used to treat the mightiest and most horrible disease since time immemorial.

The main source of various plant sources observed in the forests, around 2000 species in India are known to have medicinal properties and some of them are used as even home remedies in the rural and remotest parts of the country. Infact many systems of what is known now as alternate system of Medicine like the Ayurveda, Chinese System of Medicine, Tibetian System of Medicine, Unani, Siddha, etc around the world have used plants as major components of their medicinal formulations or even as single drug formulations.

It is a known and a natural phenomenon that one cannot exist in place of the other especially when they are opposite in character. This is true in case of Development and Forest cover also. Development cannot exist without deforestation. This is because both are opposite to each other. For a well needed development of infrastructure like roads, buildings, industries, etc, it is quite necessary that we need land. This need for land in its turn fetches itself in forests and other areas for its fulfilment. This leads to rapid deforestation. The question is how much land does the man need? And what is the end for the road of development?

The two questions have been pondering in my mind quite often. The answers for these questions are quite tough to seek. But let’s think of the fact that the forest not only a good controller of environmental events but also is a rich abode of Medicinal Plants which is well depended by an Ayurvedic and other similar industries. The rapid deforestation has resulted in loss of many species of plants. Some of them have become extinct and some others have become endangered i.e. they have reached the verge of being extinct. If at all we still continue to do so, we may end up in a situation where we have only development and no forests or plant on earth.

The danger has been visualised by many including the government and as a result they are trying to maintain a balance between the two by different programmes. Most of these plants can be cultivated in a small scale for us to use as home remedies for small ailments that we come across quite routinely due to seasonal variations. Hence, it is our duty to understand the importance of medicinal plants, identify them and then even cultivate it to preserve for the future generation to the most possible extent....................CFEIA