Impact assessment of anthropogenic threats to high-valued medicinal plants of Kashmir Himalaya, India

Abstract

Management strategies designed and implemented by practitioners to conserve threatened species must be based on an empirical impact assessment of operative threats. The present study was carried out to assess the Overall Threat Impact (OTI) on 94 high-valued medicinal plant species of Kashmir Himalaya, India. The results show that 13 major anthropogenic threats to these medicinal plants are currently operative in this Himalayan region. It was revealed that 57, 10, 10, and 17 medicinal plant species experience Low, Medium, High and Very High OTI, respectively. Of the total species assessed, 56 are endemic to the Himalaya; and of these 11 narrow endemic species to the Western Himalaya (e.g. Aconitum heterophyllum, Aquilegia nivalis, Atropa acuminata) currently face Very High OTI in the region. Overall, anthropogenic drivers such as over-exploitation for local use, overgrazing, landslides/soil erosion are the major threats to the medicinal plants of this region. These high-valued medicinal plants experience a multitude of threats either singly or in various combinations and maximum number of species face the twin threats of overgrazing and over-exploitation. The present study highlights that 37 medicinal plant species of this ecologically fragile Himalayan region, which fall under Medium to Very High OTI, warrant urgent conservation action for their long-term survival and sustainable use.