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Overview
Medicinal plants that are found in nature are important to the ecosystem. They are also beneficial for many humans and other animals. Their medicinal properties have been noticed even before the use of written language. More recently zoopharmacognosy, the use of self- medication by animals has been observed. Medicinal plants are very important because the active ingredients in them can be used for the development of pharmaceuticals. Over 70,000 plant species are thought to have medicinal uses. Because of combinations of loss of habitat due to population increases and over-harvesting, these plants are at risk of extinction.

Extinction Around the Globe
According to the World Health Organization about 80% of people in some Asian and African countries use plants for their primary healthcare. This often occurs in developing countries where the increases in population sizes are expected to limit access to or supplies of medicinal resources. Only 15% of pharmaceutical drug supply is consumed in these countries, as many have no access to them and a strong cultural preference for the traditional methods used.

Habitat Destruction
According to the World Atlas of Biodiversity, in 1995 less than 1% of plant species found in the tropics had been screened for possible use in pharmaceuticals. Habitats are being lost quicker than scientists can investigate them. At current extinction rates, it is estimated that we are losing at least one potential wonder drug about every two years. Current extinction rates are about 100 to 1000 times higher than they were before anthropogenic causes began to influence the ecosystems. In China, there has been a tenfold increase in threatened plant species since 1992 due to habitat destruction.

Overharvesting
According to the World Conservation Union (IUCN), nearly 15,000 plant species with medicinal value are threatened and near extinction because of over-harvesting. IUCN along with the World Wildlife Fund WWF formed The Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network TRAFFIC over thirty years ago. TRAFFIC was created to monitor global trade of wild species. They have researched and reported on many threats due to over-collection on public lands in the United States.

Cultivation vs Wild-Collection
Medicinal plants are important for health, but they also have high economic value, through local and national trading. The value of international trade is estimated at $60 billion per year with a 7% annual increase. The problem is only a small amount is developed from cultivation. Of the approximately 3,000 internationally traded species, only about 900 are grown through commercial cultivation. According to WWF and TRAFFIC, about 70-80% of medicinal plants that are traded come from wild collection, which could lead to local extinction for species that are rare and severely over-harvested. This level of wild collection is unsustainable, as herb-gatherers have had to travel farther to get a desired plant, with some species no longer being found. This has significant consequences through a loss of healthcare possibilities and a loss of biodiversity. This also affects people in some countries, who rely on collecting medicinal plants for money. For instance in Nepal, medicinal and aromatic plants are traded at about $20 million each year, with 90% of the harvest being from rampant wild collection by poor farmers, whose only source of income is selling these plants. This is also common in Bangladesh, India and other South Asian countries.

Bioprospecting
Bioprospecting is the search for biological products for purposes such as making new medicines. Often this occurs in developing nations. This is quite beneficial to pharmaceutical companies. In 1995, an analysis determined that every new drug derived from plants was worth about $94 million to drug companies and $449 million to those purchasing the products. Non-prescription drugs are then worth about $24.4 billion in worldwide sales. This leads to traditional medicines becoming less available to the local populations. Sometimes, due to patenting, indigenous communities are prevented from using their ancient remedies.

Modern Medicine
Allopathic, modern medicine is often based on medicinal plants. The Rosy Periwinkle has been used to treat leukemia and Hodgkin’s disease. Morphine was developed from the poppy, and aspirin from willow tree bark. The extinction of medicinal plants will cause a decrease in new medicine discovery, especially for cancer medicines. Approximately 50% of prescription drugs are based on a molecule found naturally in plants. Pharmaceutical companies develop many drugs by taking the active ingredient from a plant and synthetically creating them for mass production. Predictions that advances like this would reduce the need for natural products were proven to be inaccurate, so modern medicine still depends on plants for medicines.

Medicinal Species At Risk
A study was done by TRAFFIC in 2004 in conjunction with IUCN to review the trade of seven medicinal plants listed in the Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species (CITES). Those included were Cistanche deserticola (Desert Cistanche), Dioscorea deltoida (Elephant's Foot), Nardostachys grandiflora (Jatamansi), Picrorhiza kurrooa (Kutki), Pterocarpus santalinus (Red Sanders), Rauvolfia serpentine (Snakeroot), and Taxus wallichiana (Himalayan Yew). When the extinction risks in these plants were first noticed, the government began making control measurements for sustainable collections. Earlier studies showed that these laws were not enforced, and in some places practically nonexistent and the problems continued. It was found that most of these species had multiple uses and were used in more than one location. For instance, Kutki is used in Ayurvedic, traditional Chinese and traditional Tibetan medicine. Elephant’s Foot, Himalayan Yew, and Desert Cistanche are used for pharmaceuticals in Western countries. For instance, paclitaxel which was first extracted from the bark of the Pacific Yew of North America, and used to make the medicine Taxol was also found in the Himalayan Yew, causing decline in this species due to its use in cancer treatments. The information on the status and trade of these species were not able to yield conclusive results.

Concern and Action Plan
The threat of extinction is caused by increasing demand, growing human population, and destruction of habitats such as tropical forests and wetlands, among others, but detailed information on the severity is lacking. Therefore, for many of the species no conservation actions have been employed. There has been a lot of discussion on the use of these plants for new drugs, without considering the usage of these plants that have been used traditionally for centuries. The people that inhabit the land, where the plants are found have been overlooked. Much of the knowledge of these medicinal plants are passed down through tradition, without much of the information being recorded systematically.

In March of 1998, WHO, IUCN, and WWF collaborated along with other experts at an International Consultation to discuss the problems, decide priorities and suggest recommendations for an action plan. At the meeting a set of guidelines were established.

Basic Studies
First they wanted to study traditional knowledge on the use of medicinal plants. This involved each country supporting at least one institution to implement ethnobotanical surveys to try to document the traditional knowledge of the locals. In actuality, individuals performed these surveys instead of institutions. An ethnobotanical survey consisted of collecting plant specimens and documenting the parts and condition of plants used and how the medicine was prepared and used. The characteristics of the people using the medicine was also recorded such as ethnic group, sex, and age.

Also, the abundance of the specific plant in the vicinity collected and how it was traded was recorded when possible. Another plan was to assess the distribution and abundance of the species. This could be done by botanical institutions. An important component of this was to have the information stored in computerized databases that could be utilized internationally.

Utilization
To combat the problem of wild harvests, they wanted to have medicinal plants in cultivation. This has advantages for pharmaceutical companies who need to provide medicines in mass. Cultivated crops reduce genetic differences in the plants because they are grown in similar climate and soil conditions and can be developed to increase yields. For this, nurseries could be established in these areas. The WHO Traditional Medicine Program outlined a strategy wherein the distribution of seeds could be given to individuals for use in a home garden. For instance, plants with antimalarial benefits could be given to communities during seasons when malaria was common.

Cultivation has worked in areas such as Sri Lanka where the primary treatment is based on Ayurveda, a Hindu system of medicine. With help from WWF and the Royal Botanic Garden, they have set up nurseries to cultivate the medicinal plants used in Ayurvedic medicine. They are found in different climatic regions of the country. One of the grounds is even set up near a hospital, so patients can see the plants used for their treatments.

Other aspects involve plant breeding to produce higher yielding medicinal products and minimizing the use of chemicals on the cultivated products.

Conservation
The best way to prevent extinction is to allow plants to be grown in its natural environment, which is in situ conservation. This could be done by the creating of protected areas—nature reserves and national parks. Species that have been drastically loss due to over-harvesting should be reintroduced back into their natural habitats. An alternative is ex situ conservation, when plants are grown outside of their habitat. This is important for research and education and can help with supplying populations for reintroductions. This is especially important for propagation of a species. These plants though require more human care and have less biodiversity. The guidelines specify that each country should have a botanic garden with seed banks.

In China, they are starting a new national survey of plant habitats and species, so that they can update their records of old species, and add newly discovered ones. This will include a conservation assessment, focusing on threatened plants that have economic value but can only thrive in a certain area. A conservation assessment of plants in in situ and ex situ programs will be done and a national network of herbaria is being developed both physically and virtually using the Internet.

Numerous volumes of the ethno-medicinal encyclopedia have been made, cataloging how many plants are prepared medicinally and used. Plant diversity conservation has even been included in the Chinese curriculum for primary and secondary education. Forest parks, nature reserves, and botanical gardens are very important and are very important to conservation education.