Local herb experts to help forest dept in creating biodiversity register

Indore: Indore Forest Department is establishing a specialised network of experienced local elders possessing traditional knowledge of indigenous medicinal herbs. This group will assist the department in compiling a comprehensive regional biodiversity register and identifying species for preservation.

Sub-divisional officer (SDO) Amit Solanki said the department has identified individuals across various villages who hold extensive practical expertise in local flora.

“The forest department will conduct training programmes for the identified residents in June to merge traditional taxonomy with modern scientific identification techniques. The field identification and conservation phase is scheduled to begin in August, with active participation from local village communities to scale up planting initiatives,” the forest official told TOI.

Concurrently, the department has identified 22 to 25 plant species classified under the rare, endangered and threatened (RET) category, which are being cultivated in institutional nurseries. To expand the conservation footprint, the department is encouraging farmers with large landholdings to dedicate small portions of their agricultural plots to these vulnerable species.

Unlike past initiatives with bamboo, which many local farmers abandoned due to low market demand and low profit margins, these RET species possess high commercial value in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics sectors, offering financial incentives for cultivating communities.

This initiative builds upon the infrastructure of the forest department’s research and extension nursery on Khandwa Road. Following its successful micropropagation of bamboo in 2019, the facility’s tissue culture laboratory has been experimenting with cloning high-quality teak, kadam and paadar tree varieties to strengthen the region’s agroforestry output.