Shillong, June 11: Meghalaya has been identified as one of the seven states in the country where intensive research on medicinal plants will be taken up by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in association with the Meghalaya government.
The convenor of the state-level planning committee on conservation and sustainable utilisation of medicinal plants, B. Kharbuli, said that a draft proposal on the initiatives has already been prepared. It was presented to chief minister D.D. Lapang during a meeting of the state-level planning committee yesterday.
Kharbuli said the project on conservation of medicinal plants would be the first major step by the government and the UNDP.
?This is one opportunity we must make use of to link the local communities, who depend on forests, to their markets?, Kharbuli said. The official said the plan would be prepared through a consultative process involving stakeholders in the seven states of Arunachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttaranchal, Sikkim and Meghalaya. A Bangalore-based agency, the Foundation of Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) has been assigned the task of preparing the plan.
Co-ordinator of the UNDP-initiated Global Environment Facility, G.A. Kinhal, who is also a member of the FRLHT, said the plan was in its final stages and would be implemented soon in phases. ?The government will play a key role in promotion of medicinal plants and their conservation,? he added.
Acknowledging the initiatives taken by the state-level planning committee, which has substantial representation from local communities and research institutions, chief minister D.D. Lapang today said his government would issue a notification soon to announce the formation of a Meghalaya State Medicinal Plant Board.
Lapang said the state government would play the role of supporter in every plan initiated by the FRLHT and other agencies.