 NBR– 5520 sq.kms, 3 states of South India  Biodiversity – Flora and fauna  Forest types of NBR- TDF, MDF,SJ  Tribal communities of NBR-Todas, Kotas, Irulas& Jenu Kurumbas  Major occupation of tribals- Artisans, Pastrolists, Farmers, Honey dwellers & Laborers  Tribal traditional knowledge and medicinal plants

Approaches of forest conservation have not been directly tied to local conservation attitudes and behavior- Hence no incentive to conserve these forest resources (Salafsky & Wollenberg 2000).  Tribal medicine and their use  Study site and Irula community  Irula settlements

 to identify the conservation status of the medicinal plant species in selected tribal settlement.  to assess the threats for the selected medicinal plant species.  to evaluate the community based conservation efforts for medicinal plants in the study area.  to perform Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat(SWOT) analysis for working towards the sustainable harvesting in the region.

 Data collection – Stratified random sampling along with SSI  How do people perceive illness & what are the beliefs & practices influencing the health behavior  Role of indigenous medical practitioners & folk medicine in relation to health & medical care  Different herb and shrub species used for treatment  Method of preparation and treatment  Opinions towards the herbal medicine  How much medicinal herb they consume (daily intake)  level of knowledge and awareness about it.

 The species selection for the study of conservation status was done based on two criteria:  Plants mentioned by the respondents as rare or difficult to procure along with the use mentioned by the >15 % of the respondents.  Plants mentioned in the Red list FRLHT and with the use mentioned by the >15%) of the respondents. (accessed on 12/2/10 )

 Stratified random sampling in choosing the plots  Area of availability of medicinal plants as mentioned by more than 15% of respondents  Relatively undisturbed nature of the study sites  For trees the size of the plots designed were 10X10m,  for climbers 10X10m  for herbs 5X5m respectively as recommended by ( accessed on ).

 37 trees (35%),  34 herbs (32%)  30 shrubs(28%)  5 climbers(5%)

Aegle marmelosCurcuma pseudomontana

Raphidophora pertusaMoringa concanensis

Givotia mollucana Andrographis serphilifolia

 Most of the MPs collected from forest (80%) & followed by farm lands(22%)  Most of MPs utilized in the form of Leaves, Leaf paste (34%)& Bark (23%) A.marmelos10  Threats faced by the MPs and its present status – in the localized inventory sites- Highly degraded ( for A.marmelos observation shows 10 years back 5 trees were present and at present only one tree in a dying condition)  Establishment of community nurseries and replanting for these declining medicinal plant species  Nongovernmental organizations -promoting the community based conservation activities by employing the irula people in nurseries,  tribal healers -the identification skills to the school children(CONSERVATION EDUCATION)

 Activity based environmental education - medicinal plant conservation - minor afforestation projects, with special emphasis on MPs -the village boundaries  Community based approach will be a highly successful to document and valorize the traditional ethnobotanical knowledge base  It will provide recognition of this undocumented knowledge and help in conservation of such rare, gradually vanishing important medicinal plants used for snake bite and other diseases  As of now the currently adopted pseudo-ecotourism model is at loggerheads with long term sustainability. This should be replaced by CBET based on endogenous tribal knowledge and wisdom