By John Platt Traditional Ayurvedic medicine could face an uncertain future as 93 percent of the wild plants used in the practice are threatened with extinction due to overexploitation, the Times of India reports. The Botanical Survey of India recently prioritized 359 wild medicinal plant species and conducted an assessment throughout the country to determine their health. The news wasn’t good. Of the 359 species, 335 were categorized as critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable or near-threatened. The survey used criteria and categories established by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for its Red List of Threatened Species. According to India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests, 95 percent of plants used in Ayurvedic medicine are collected from the wild, and about two-thirds of that harvest uses “destructive means” that can damage or kill the plants. …
Ayurveda out of balance: 93 percent of medicinal plants threatened with extinction
