Medicinal plants are important commodities that have been exploited for the betterment of the human race throughout the world. India with its ancient medicinal systems like Ayurveda and other indigenous systems like Unani, Siddha and Amchi is well known for the use of medicinal plants. Medicinal plants collection has been an equally old livelihood activity of communities in remote mountainous areas. Medicinal plants are contributing to the major trade undertaken in the Chamoli district in the state of Uttaranchal. The medicinal plant sector is unorganized and the benefits of collection from the wild are not reaching the poor. Urbanization and pressure on ecosystems like Bugiyals mean the high altitude medicinal plants are depleting and many of them have been already listed in the IUCN Red Data Book as endangered. There is a need for awareness and capacity building among local people and various other stakeholder groups involved in the medicinal plants sector in the Himalayas for the long term survival of this important plant resource.
