Allachy project: International training and capacity building on medicinal plants conservation and sustainable use (India)

FRLHT campus at Bangalore © Alan Hamilton

Grantee:

Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT)

Project period: March to December 2006

Highlights

• An international course on medicinal plant conservation was held at Bangalore, India, in October 2006.
• It was attended by 24 participants, 2 from China and Pakistan, 3 from each of Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda, and the remainder from India. Link to: List of participants.
• The course was based on Indian experience, especially that of FRLHT. A summary of methods developed by FRLHT for conservation of medicinal plants is provided in an attached PDF file. A second file contains information for trainers on one aspect of this methodology - the documentation and assessment of local health traditions.
• The course was based on Indian experience, especially that of FRLHT. A summary of methods developed by FRLHT for conservation of medicinal plants is provided in an attached PDF file. A second file contains information for trainers on one aspect of this methodology - the documentation and assessment of local health traditions.
• Further attached files contain a summary of the course, a post-course evaluation by participants and the project's final technical report.

See also:

Conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants: the approach and experience of FRLHT (PDF 163 kb)

Trainer's nodule on documentation and assessment of local health traditions (word file 265 kb)

Summary of the course (PDF 340 kb)

Post training evaluation by participants (word file 25 kb)

Final Technical Report by FRLHT, 14 December 2006 (PDF 1.7 mb)

Project account by Alan Hamilton, updated 4 July 2007

Project description

The staff of FRLHT organised an international training course on conservation of medicinal plants at Bangalore on 4-20 October 2006. Half the course was in the course and the rest lectures and various demonstrations. Seventeen foreign participants attended, 7 from neighbouring Asian countries (China, Nepal, Pakistan) and 9 from Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda). There were also a further 7 participants from India.

FRLHT is a leading organisation in India promoting conservation and development related to medicinal plants. Founded in 1993, FRLHT has conducted ten Conservation Assessment and Management Prioritization (CAMP) workshops for medicinal plants, resulting in 350 medicinal plants species being prioritized for conservation attention. It has also been involved in supporting the development of nurseries to supply materials for growing in villages. FRLHT, in collaboration with the state forest departments of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, has conceived, designed and technically guided the creation of 55 Medicinal Plants Conservation Areas (MPCAs) of 200-500 hectares each, spread across peninsular India. It has trained 3000 forest officers and 500 representatives of various NGOs under more than 160 short-term training programmes.

The course provided an excellent opportunity for the exchange of experiences and views between people engaged in medicinal plant conservation in different countries. It demonstrated the great value of cross-border learning in this field.

return to top>>