Wasteland Management with Medicinal Plants

Abstract

According to the National Wastelands Development Board, (NWDB) India, “wasteland means degraded lands which can be brought in to vegetative cover with reasonable effort and which is currently lying as underutilized and land which is deteriorating for lack of appropriate water and soil management or on account of natural causes”. The various abiotic stresses encountered by the plants in wastelands are water stress (flood and draught), temperature stress (high and low temperature), nutrient stress, heavy metal contamination, salt stress etc. The consequences of land degradation in wastelands are soil erosion, depletion of natural resources, lower productivity, ground water depletion, shortage of drinking water, reduction in species diversity etc. Most of the potential productive lands have turned wastelands due to gross mismanagement and unsustainable exploitation of its biosphere. To tackle the problem of degradation of lands, restoration of ecology and to meet the growing demands of fuel wood, fodder and medicine, management of wastelands is the most practical solution. Major programmes can be implemented for improving the productivity of waste and degraded lands keeping in view the poverty, backwardness, gender and equity.