There is a growing interest by governments and academics in including Indigenous knowledge alongside scientific knowledge in environmental management, including monitoring. Given this growing interest, a critical review of how Indigenous peoples have been engaged in monitoring is needed. We reviewed and analyzed the academic literature to answer the following questions: How have Indigenous peoples participated in environmental monitoring, and how has their participation influenced monitoring objectives, indicators, methods, and monitoring outcomes? We also summarized how this literature discussed power, governance, and the use of both Indigenous and scientific knowledge in environmental monitoring efforts. We found that the literature most often characterized participation as data collection, and that higher degrees of participation and power held by Indigenous peoples in environmental monitoring leads to initiatives that have different objectives, indicators, and outcomes than those with heavier involvement of external groups. Our review also showed that a key challenge of conducting effective monitoring that leverages both Indigenous knowledge systems and science is the power imbalances that uncouple Indigenous monitoring efforts from management. We encourage future initiatives to carefully consider the ways in which power and governance shape their programs and the ability of their monitoring to lead to meaningful management actions.

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A review of Indigenous knowledge and participation in environmental monitoring

Medicinal plants research in Asia continues to receive significant national and international attention, particularly concerning its multiple roles in poverty alleviation and health care support. However, scientific information on the institutional arrangements, the potentials of different medicinal plants production systems, and the utilization methods, remain highly fragmented. This incomprehensive information base shades the development of a comprehensive research agenda to improve the current body of knowledge, at least in the context of Asia. To address this impasse and propose future research perspectives, we systematically reviewed 247 journal articles, 15 institutional reports, and 28 book chapters. From the reviews, five key lessons are drawn: (i) Asian medicinal plant production systems demonstrate some dynamics, characterized by a gradual but continuous shift from wild gathering to cultivation, (ii) sub-regional variations exist with regards to the appreciation of medicinal plants potentials for traditional healing, modern healthcare, and livelihoods support, (iii) knowledge on the effect of multi-scale institutional arrangements (formal and informal) on medicinal plant management practices is fragmented, (iv) very few studies dwell on the challenges of medicinal plants commercialization, particularly with regards to the role of middlemen, boom–bust cycle, raw material readiness, and product quality, and (v) law enforcement, benefit and knowledge sharing, and research and development should be prioritized to serve the interest of medicinal plants production actors. To further extend the body of knowledge on medicinal plants in Asia, we advance the need for empirical investigations on the performance of medicinal plants production systems and their contribution to livelihoods in diverse institutional contexts.

Asian Medicinal Plants’ Production and Utilization Potentials: A Review

To achieve the challenging goals of minimizing loss of species and achieving sustainable use of biodiversity, conservation prioritization merits urgent research attention. The present study identifies the priority of conservation for the medicinal flora of the Jammu and Kashmir (JK most of these are narrow endemics. Worryingly, all of the 50 prioritized species are currently recognized under different International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources threat categories, are highly prized for their use in traditional medicine in the region and are precious sustainable bioresources for the herbal industry. Most of these prioritized species are being harvested illegally. This integrated ecological and socioeconomic study has immediate implications for evidence-based and target-orientated conservation policy and practice in this Himalayan region.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/4C9B2948FC36B4AD1EDAA5ABD164B5F4/S0376892918000425a.pdf/div-class-title-prioritizing-conservation-of-medicinal-flora-in-the-himalayan-biodiversity-hotspot-an-integrated-ecological-and-socioeconomic-approach-div.pdf

Prioritizing Conservation of Medicinal Flora in the Himalayan Biodiversity Hotspot: An Integrated Ecological and Socioeconomic Approach

Invasion by alien species is a global problem and forms one of the major drivers of global change. The researches on plant invasion have grown rapidly across the globe since the mid-twentieth century. However, in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) such studies are inadequate and have not been systematically conducted. Lack of empirical evidences on various described aspects of plant invasion in IHR are likely to aggravate the issue of invasion management in the region. This scenario would become more worst under changing climate. This study analyzed the results of an extensive review of the available information generated through Web of Science and Google scholar. A total of 297 naturalized alien plant species belongs to 65 families in the IHR are reported. Of the total 297 naturalized alien plant species in IHR, maximum species occur in Himachal Pradesh (232; 78.1%) followed by Jammu & Kashmir (192; 64.6%) and Uttarakhand (181; 60.90%). Among various invasive species, Lantana camara, Ageratina adenophora, Parthenium hysterophorus and Ageratum conyzoides have been reported from most of the IHR states and proliferated over larger area. Evidences available in the published studies are indicative that with tourism promotion and increasing roads networks, that passes through forests, many of the alien species in the IHR have started invading forests and even in alpine ecosystems. This study observed expansion of Ageratina adenophora up to 2900 m, which is higher than its reported elevation range (300–2800 m) in west Himalaya. These evidences suggest possible encroachment by alien species in hitherto invasion resilient higher Himalaya, particularly with emerging trends of increasing temperature and human disturbances. The present study also provides a multistage framework for investment on invasion researches in IHR. This will allow developing appropriate management strategies and policy planning for addressing issues pertaining to plant invasions across the IHR states.

Alien plant invasion in the Indian Himalayan Region: state of knowledge and research priorities

Comparative assessment of Phyto diversity in Tangmarg Forest division in Kashmir Himalaya, India

Assessing the impact of threats, identification, prioritization and predicting conservation pockets are vital for the conservation and management of threatened species. This study investigated the diversity and distribution through inventorization and analysis of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categorized threatened plants and their prioritization for conservation. A total of 456 threatened taxa belonging to 233 genera coming under 87 families were recorded as threatened under various threat categories of IUCN. Among lited taxa, 64 species were falls under higher risk of extinction categories of IUCN viz. Critically endangered, Endangered, and Vulnerable with 13, 28 and 23 species respectively. Maximum number of threatened plants was found (84 species) in family Fabaceae followed by Cyperaceae (65 species) and Poaceae (36 species). Richness of threatened plants was found maximum in the Sikkim (203) followed by Himachal Pradesh (190) and Jammu & Kashmir (189). Major causes of depletion of threatened taxa were anthropogenic activities such as habitat loss, overgrazing, deforestation, over-exploitation and unsustainable harvesting of medicinal plants. Therefore, conservation of all the inventorized 64 threatened plants is needful at its earliest. Thus the strategies for the conservation of threatened species must be directed towards those species facing highest risk of extinction, biologically distinct and ecologically valuable for the ecosystem as well having socio-economic significance. Considering this, prioritization of the threatened species was done following existing methodologies. Among the threatened taxa, Angelica glauca, Coptis teeta, Lilium polyphyllum, Nardostachys jatamansi, Aconitum heterophyllum and Gentiana kurroo etc. are ranked at apex, thus needs higher priority for conservation. The study further indicate that six species such as Angelica glauca, Coptis teeta, Gymnocladus assamicus, Illicium griffithii, Piper pedicellatum and Saussurea costus are endemic, having restricted distribution, however highly traded in the IHR. Thus, it is proposed that these species must be taken under special apprehension for conservation planning. Besides this for the conservation of higher risk of extinction species, grid mapping of targeted species was done for identifying specific distribution areas for effective conservation.

Conservation and prioritization of threatened plants in Indian Himalayan Region

Criteria and indicators for promoting cultivation and conservation of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Western Himalaya, India

Trees are acknowledged as most valued gift of nature and saviour of earth, enhancing and protecting landscapes, ecosystems and production systems. An authentic database of tree flora missing from local to global scale has immense value. Formulation of conservation and management policies are difficult owing to huge variation in number of species, lack of tree cover and quantification of tree diversity. To endow with a pragmatic groundwork for quantification of tree diversity of IHR, we had published an inventory of 1466 tree species (Angiosperms and Gymnosperms) along with their taxonomically vetted scientific name, distributional range, phenological attributes (leaf persistence and flower colour), use value, congruence, endemism and threatened species. One more database on tree diversity of Western Himalaya was also published with an annotated list of tree flora compiled from unrestricted literature and e-floras related to the regions. The present paper is an attempt to bring out the overall representation of tree flora of IHR, its distributional pattern, congruence, and endemism criterion in Western and Eastern Himalaya along with correlation between the regions as well as states.

Deepika Bhatt

Papers

Conservation and prioritization of threatened plants in Indian Himalayan Region

Criteria and indicators for promoting cultivation and conservation of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Western Himalaya, India

Tree diversity, congruence and endemism: Himalaya ‘The land of diversity’