The Indian Himalayas are rich reservoir of plant diversity and medicinal plant diversity is an important component of that. As one amongst the top repositories of medicinal herbs the state of Himachal Pradesh in Himalaya is one of the major sources of raw material to the global market. Unsustainable extraction of medicinal herbs has led to the endangerment of its several high value taxa. Ex-situ cultivation through community involvement is looked as probable solution to meet raw material market demand and diluting in-situ extraction pressure. The urgency of a committed action by different interested groups for the conservation of valuable medicinal resource has been severely realised. For this immediacy of an action is intensely felt to put in place for the conservation of endangered medicinal plants to prioritised for Himachal Pradesh.
With this view, and particularly on the occasion of International Year of the Mountains 2002, a workshop on "Endangered Medicinal Plant Species in Himachal Pradesh" was held at G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment & Development, Mohal-Kullu, H.P., India on 18-19 March 2002. It has presented a forum to scientists and various stakeholders including industrialists, farmers, NGOs, managers, funders and policy makers to address the multiple related issues and that has set forth the platform to make action plan with the common agreement and to execute in collaboration with identified partners. From India and abroad 40 identified experts from diverse disciplines attended the workshop. The major funder of the workshop was "World Resource Foundation" through Rothamsted International (IACR, UK), along with sponsorships from G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment & Development, Kosi-Almora, India, and Centre for Advancement of Sustainable Agriculture, New Delhi.
