Use of medicinal plants is critical to local and indigenous communities<\/a>. However, researchers have found that overharvesting and a modern education system are leading to the loss of both traditional plants and traditional knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nadeem Qadri, a prominent environmental lawyer in Jammu and Kashmir, says: \u201cSince medicinal plants<\/a> are already under stress and many are on the verge of extinction, the [entry of] pharmaceutical companies \u2013 if not regulated properly \u2013 can be challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the scrapping of Article 370<\/a> in 2019 and ending of Jammu and Kashmir\u2019s partial autonomy, it has become easier for outside companies to buy land and set up in the region. The biotechnology sector has emerged as a priority<\/a> since J&K\u2019s 2021 Industrial Developmental Scheme was announced, which aims to attract investment and development. As of July 2022, the J&K government said it had received 338 proposals<\/a> associated with the biotech sector. It is also striving to boost<\/a> its aromatherapy and alternative medicine sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anoo Malhotra, director-general of the Industries and Commerce department for Jammu, tells The Third Pole that over the past couple of years the government has allotted land to more than 50 pharmaceutical companies<\/a> in the Jammu division \u2013 one of the two administrative divisions of Jammu and Kashmir. She says she is not aware of whether the land has been used yet \u2013 either for research and development, or for manufacturing existing products. But Malhotra says that no pharmaceutical companies have applied for land in the Kashmir division of the Union Territory yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The latest available data shows that 45 pharmaceutical companies are listed<\/a> as operating in the Union Territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given researchers in 2018 identified<\/a> \u201cincreasing demand for raw plant material from the pharmaceutical industry\u201d as resulting in \u201cfurther overharvesting of wild medicinal plant species\u201d in the Himalayas, the form this expansion will take in Jammu and Kashmir is crucial for the preservation of the region\u2019s natural resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the government, the growth of the pharmaceutical industry will boost the economy in the region\u2019s rural and tribal areas, with more jobs and better regulation of the plant trade. Indeed, officials, researchers and conservationists have been saying for years<\/a> that a formal market for medicinal plants and nurseries needs to be established to slow the smuggling trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government is working on a strategy<\/a> for the commercialisation of medicinal plants and says that steps are being taken to make sure plants will not be over-extracted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In September 2020, a 10-member Biodiversity Council was formed<\/a> for J&K. Headed by the principal chief conservator of forests of J&K, it has five government officials as ex-officio members, and five independent experts as non-official members. The Council is to advise the government on the conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of biological resources and equitable sharing of these benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The authorities have also set up medicinal plant nurseries, and are currently developing sites in north Kashmir\u2019s Gurez and Bhaderwah, Doda and Tapyal Samba of Jammu division \u2013 parts of the region passed through by indigenous pastoral Gujjar and Bakarwals communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official from the Jammu and Kashmir Forest Department said that in December 2022 the government introduced changes to the policy<\/a> on Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP), which includes medicinal plants. He described this as a landmark reform towards the conservation, sustainable collection and use of some important forest resources while enhancing the livelihood opportunities of forest-dependent communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under India\u2019s 2002 Biological Diversity Act, states set up biodiversity boards. The Act was not automatically applicable in Jammu and Kashmir until after it was accepted by the state\u2019s elected Legislative Assembly, due to J&K\u2019s autonomy. It took until 2015 for it to be accepted and a Biodiversity Board set up. In 2020 the board was replaced by the Biodiversity Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asaf Mehmood Sagar, J&K\u2019s principal chief conservator of forests and director of the Jammu and Kashmir Forest Research Institute, tells The Third Pole that foreign biotechnology companies need permission from the National Biodiversity Authority to access biological resources in India. Local companies need to secure the permission of the state Biodiversity Council in a Union Territory or a Biodiversity Board in states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Biodiversity Council\/Board will take comments from the Biodiversity Management Committees first and then they will allow the company to go in the particular area. The BMCs can monitor the activities of the company,\u201d Sagar says, adding: \u201cThe Biodiversity Council will get their royalty from the products extracted by any companies, who will then share it with BMCs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biodiversity Management Committee (BMCs) were established after 2020 in Jammu and Kashmir at the village panchayat, municipality and district level \u2013 a legal requirement under the 2004 Biological Diversity Rules. In theory, these are an important component of the regulatory system that give a voice to communities over who can access biological resources. They are committees of seven members, including a chair, two women and a member of a Scheduled Caste. Panchayat-level BMCs work under the gram sabha (village council). At the district level they report to the District Development Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biodiversity Management Committees, were supposed to be set up<\/a> in 2015 in Jammu and Kashmir. However, this did not happen until 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An official from the Forest Department tells The Third Pole that the National Green Tribunal, India\u2019s environmental court, intervened in the matter because the government of J&K was not constituting BMCs and People\u2019s Biodiversity Registers.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Sagar, who is also the member secretary of Jammu and Kashmir\u2019s Biodiversity Council, says that BMCs have a five-year tenure and that the new committees will be formed by the new panchayats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BMCs maintain a People\u2019s Biodiversity Register (PBR), a document with comprehensive information on the availability of local biological resources and their medicinal or other uses, which is developed in consultation with the local population of a village or area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BMCs also regulate access to natural resources. Syed Tariq, who leads the J&K Biodiversity Council, says that people and companies from outside a district need to obtain the BMC\u2019s permission to use and extract medicinal plants. If any rules are violated, Sagar says the committees report this to the authorities, who are responsible for taking action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The December 2022 NTFP policy<\/a> states that the Biological Diversity Act empowers the BMCs to levy charges on those who collect any biological resource for commercial purposes from areas that fall within their territorial jurisdiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Environmental lawyer Qadri says that if there is complete transparency in the \u201ccollection system\u201d of the pharmaceutical companies, this will enhance the finances of the BMCs, and thereby the local panchayats (elected village councils).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The last panchayat elections in the Kashmir Valley were in 2018, and 61% of panchayat positions were still empty<\/a> by 2019, raising questions as to the establishment and effectiveness of the BMCs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An official from the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir office, told The Third Pole that the panchayat elections will be held this year and all the vacant seats will be filled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut we need to think about the conservation of medicinal plants, especially endangered species first, so that they aren\u2019t under threat,\u201d Qadri adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He says a conservation and action plan needs to be drawn up before companies are allowed to extract forest produce at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf it will be sustainably done, properly monitored and executed, it will be an advantage but imagine if those things aren\u2019t followed \u2013 your forest will be devoid of any natural medicinal plant,\u201d he says, adding that \u201cIt needs to be seen how things will shape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mohammad Mudaser Yatoo runs a small business in Budgam, a district in central Kashmir. Two years ago, the 33-year-old was nominated as one of the seven members of the district Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, since then Yatoo says he has not received any information about his role and responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt apparently looks like the BMCs were constituted just for the namesake as the committee remained only on papers,\u201d says Yatoo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Raja Muzaffar Bhat, a prominent environmental activist from the region, stresses that under the law biotechnology companies must have the permission of the relevant BMC to obtain biological resources for research or commercial purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut that will only happen when the empowered BMCs are aware of their role,\u201d says Bhat, who is also chair of the BMC for Budgam district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He adds that if the biotech companies are not regulated, the Kashmir Valley will lose its medicinal resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the government has formed BMCs at the district, municipality and village level, \u201cExcept for one conference in 2022, the government hasn\u2019t done anything to inform and aware the committee members how to carry out the job,\u201d Bhat says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Syed Bari Andrabi, who is the chair of the BMC for Pulwama district in southern Kashmir, attended the 2022 conference. It was during the conference, he tells The Third Pole, that he realised how important BMCs are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe programme should have reached to the village and panchayat level, which is not happening,\u201d Andrabi says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bhat says that the government should keep the BMCs in the loop whenever it intends to sign a deal for the extraction of medicinal plants in the region. \u201cOtherwise, this will violate the Biological Diversity Act,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response, Tariq, from the J&K Biodiversity Council, says an awareness campaign to train BMCs has started in Jammu and will imminently start in Kashmir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn Kashmir we were carrying out the process of People\u2019s Biodiversity Registers and the same has been printed. We will start the awareness campaigns now,\u201d Tariq says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He adds: \u201cWe will check the status of those plants in the People\u2019s Biodiversity Registers: if the plant is endangered, we will deny permission [for commercial use or extraction]. However, if the plant species is sufficient, we will allow them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe government is providing livelihood support to the people residing in and around forests. The BMCs will get their royalty and people will be benefitted,\u201d Tariq says, adding that \u201ceverything [will go] through the process and the trade will be legalised\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Waheed-ul-Hassan, technical officer at the J&K Medicinal Plants Board, which is responsible for developing education, research and propagation of traditional medicine systems, tells The Third Pole that the board together with the J&K Forest Department has over the past year grown 230,000 endangered medicinal plants in plant nurseries in Marwah forest division of Jammu to cater to high demand without further exploiting the region\u2019s forests. The vulnerable species being cultivated include kuth<\/em>, kutki<\/em> and mushkbala<\/em>. Hassan says the Medicinal Plants Board plans to employ farmers in these nurseries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Medicinal-plants-found-in-Jammu-and-Kashmir-2.png\")
<\/div>Government assurances<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How medicinal plants are regulated in Jammu and Kashmir<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/div>If [the expansion of the pharmaceutical industry] will be sustainably done, properly monitored and executed, it will be an advantage but imagine if those things aren\u2019t followed<\/blockquote>Nadeem Qadri, environmental lawyer<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Biodiversity Management Committees have power on paper only<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/div>Regulation of pharmaceutical companies \u201cwill only happen when the empowered BMCs are aware of their role\u201d<\/blockquote>Raja Muzaffar Bhat, environmental activist<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
An opportunity for livelihoods and conservation?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n