The book covers many areas of Medicinal plants research including traditional and scientific research that boost extensional activities in India and abroad. Many plants incorporated in India but many years the traditional use practice is going on so these are important tools to use the components in herbal therapy. People use traditionally as well as mixed preparations to share their knowledge. In industry, many components have ben widely used to prepare medicines that is economic. In addition to the applied aspects it boosts ecological value because of the wide use of components as living parts or the products in India and abroad. The articles would convey the message for long term use and wide preservation techniques to conserve the species in a global basis.

Medicinal plants are those plants whose activity imposed on different ailments. The plants of Medicinal importance are used since time immemorial. People of the globe use medicinal plants for various purposes. Medicinal plants act on different diseases, even in a raw form used for various purposes. The poultice, juice or latex are used widely by a large number of people to cure pain, as anti-bleeding agent and coagulant during instant exposure may be the time of temporal treatment. The knowledge and extension activity on medicinal plants depend upon the geographical position and climatic condition also. Therefore, local knowledge on medicinal plants and their conservation is essential. In this book authors have made their articles based on the knowledge gathered from the surroundings. Hope that everybody would be benefitted from this treatise.

Protected Area Governance and Management presents a compendium of original text, case studies and examples from across the world, by drawing on the literature, and on the knowledge and experience of those involved in protected areas. The book synthesises current knowledge and cutting-edge thinking from the diverse branches of practice and learning relevant to protected area governance and management. It is intended as an investment in the skills and competencies of people and consequently, the effective governance and management of protected areas for which they are responsible, now and into the future. The global success of the protected area concept lies in its shared vision to protect natural and cultural heritage for the long term, and organisations such as International Union for the Conservation of Nature are a unifying force in this regard. Nonetheless, protected areas are a socio-political phenomenon and the ways that nations understand, govern and manage them is always open to contest and debate. The book aims to enlighten, educate and above all to challenge readers to think deeply about protected areas—their future and their past, as well as their present. The book has been compiled by 169 authors and deals with all aspects of protected area governance and management. It provides information to support capacity development training of protected area field officers, managers in charge and executive level managers.

Medicinal plants, Knowledge, traditional knowledge, conservation, Indian subcontinent, management.

South Asia, a region of outstanding biological diversity, is home to approximately 2.1 billion people whose rich cultural traditions include sophisticated knowledge of the properties and uses of thousands of native and introduced plant species. Plant-based drugs, integral to the traditional medical systems of India and neighboring countries, play a central role in health care throughout the region and beyond, as regional and global demand for therapeutically valuable plants continues to grow. However, the ongoing transformation and degradation of forests and other natural ecosystems in this region due to rapid environmental and socioeconomic changes, poses serious challenges for the conservation and sustainable utilization of its medicinal plant wealth. Efforts to conserve the region’s rich biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge require up-to-date information on the status and trends of these resources and their importance for health care and livelihoods. Healing Plants of South Asia: A Handbook of the Medicinal Flora of the Indian Subcontinent helps to address this need. The work’s introduction provides overviews of South Asia’s diverse systems of traditional medicine, as well as the region’s biogeography, ecosystem and plant species diversity and associated conservation challenges. Subsequent chapters focus on nearly 2,000 species of plants most commonly used in traditional medicine within the region. In chapters devoted to ferns and lycophytes (including 59 species), conifers (20 species) and flowering plants (1849 species), the information provided draws upon a wide variety of authoritative published sources as well as reliable online databases. Entries for each species include: currently accepted scientific names and common synonyms; vernacular names in the major regional languages; a complete botanical description; information on the species’ ecology and conservation status; traditional therapeutic uses in Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Tibetan medicine, and more localized folk medical systems; and key references. The majority of these species are also beautifully illustrated with photos and/or botanical drawings. Healing Plants of South Asia: A Handbook of the Medicinal Flora of the Indian Subcontinent will be of value to students, scientists and professionals in a number of fields, including pharmacology, pharmaceutics, food chemistry and nutrition, natural products chemistry, ethnobotany and ethnomedicine. It should also appeal to conservationists, community development practitioners, industry, and policy makers, among a host of those involved in the world of medicinal plants and traditional medicine in South Asia.

The book contains articles covering a wide range of subjects of environmental science. The terrestrial section has articles on air pollution, solid waste ground water regime, western ghats, eastern ghats, mining, medicinal, plants, ethnobotany, role of pesticides, agriculture, microbial sensors, wetlands and ornithological studies. The marine environmental aspect such as mangroves, application of remote sensing, harmful algal blooms, bio-remediation, sustainable management of molluscan resources, benthic fauna, deep seabed mining and bio-fouling have been dealt in the marine environment section.

Currently ethnobotany has been a subject of wide interest for research in developing and developed countries. The book has been dedicated to the doyen of Indian ethnobiology, Dr. S.K. Jain, FNA, popularly known as 'Father of Indian Ethnobotany'. The book comprises very important articles written by notable ethnobiologists/ botanists on different aspects of ethnobotany. The book would certainly be useful to the students, researchers and teachers working on various aspects of ethnobotany and helpful to various pharmaceutical industries in exploring plants for preparation of new drugs.

Papers presented at the National Seminar on Conservation and Utilization of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, held at Bhubaneswar during 4-6 December 2001; in Indian context.

Volume 1.