Chhattisgarh Forest Department / NWFP Certification

Dr. Sharma stated that the National Forest Policy, 1988 does not fully visualize the potential of non-wood forest products. However, in recent times, there has been a paradigm shift from timber oriented forest management to non-wood forest produce oriented multi-tier forest management. The "Chhattisgarh Forest Policy – 2002 – Unlocking Forests for People" is one such effort of the state. He opined that let the tree perform its ecological function NWFP which is available on annual basis can take care of sustenance need by an enabling policy backed by proactive and people's friendly philosophy of 'conservation through use'.

Presentation by Dr. R.B.S. Rawat, Chief Executive Officer, National Medicinal Plants Board, Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Dr. Rawat presented the domestic and global scenario in trade of medicinal, aromatic and dye plants and highlighted the role of National Medicinal Plants Board in conservation and propagation of medicinal plants and development of medicinal plants sector in the country.

He began his session by pointing towards the strengths of India as a country having 15 Agro-climatic zones and being one of the twelve mega biodiversity countries comprising 7% of world's biodiversity supporting 16 major forest types in which 48000 plant species exist (i.e 11% of known plant species of the world), out of which nearly 9000 species are used in the Indian System of Medicine and folk medicines.

He stated that at present there are 9832 Pharmacies and approximately 7 lakh registered practitioners under the Indian System of Medicines in the country supported by an infrastructure of 3841 hospitals and 23, 597 dispensaries.

Dr. Rawat mentioned that the international market for medicinal plants is over $62 billion annually (2002) which marked an estimated growth of 10-15% in 2003. He projected an annual demand of approximately 2.5 lakh ton per year with a growth rate of nearly 20% per year. India's herbal products export amounts to US $ 150-180 million. Most of the products are in great demand in the USA / European Union nations and Japan.

According to his data, as much as 90% of the raw material is coming from the wild by way of unscientific collection and nearly 15 plants are still imported in bulk with a share of more than 100 tonnes each. He also pointed out that there is a large domestic market for the medicinal plants. Therefore, apart from promoting international trade in medicinal plants through exports, there is a need to develop domestic markets as well.

Certification, according to Dr. Rawat, will improve the market prospects of non-wood forest products including medicinal, aromatic and dye plants in the country as well as open avenues for improvement in the international trade as there will be improvement in the quality of the produces available in the market.

Dr. Rawat stated that at present, certification exists only for the timber products but there has been little effort so far on certification of non-wood forest produce. He said that for certification, source of origin must be known and the product should meet specified quality standards. He laid emphasis on social certification so that the certification process has social acceptance and validation. He also focused on the certification of the forest management practice. Thus, there are four different existing certification approaches: