CHITRAL, Oct 16: The forest department is identifying conservation areas and mobilising local communities to preserve wild medicinal plants in the high altitude forests in Chitral, as many of the plant species have been declared as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

A representative of the non-timber forest products (NTFP) directorate, Ijaz Ahmad, told this correspondent that the plant species had been overexploited for their medicinal value. He said that local people had been collecting such plants in unscientific manner threatening their further growth.

Citing some most popular plant species, he named delphinium nordhagenii and barszczewskii, which were found nowhere in Pakistan except Chitral. He said that the remote villages, representing over 60 per cent of the district's population, were still depending on the wild plants for their medicinal value.

Mr Ahmad said that the continuous increase in human population and free grazing in the area were resulting in the loss of medicinal plants. Besides, he said that the escalating demand for medicinal plants had also led to over-harvest of the plants. Giving example, he said that the local people had been harvesting 100 per cent cones from the chilghoza pine, which was badly affecting the natural regeneration of this valuable species.

The directorate official said that the species like capperis spinosa, glycyrohiza glabra, rehum emodi were regenerated and conserved in the Moleen Gol, Momy, Bamburate, Parsan and Birir in the conservation areas designated by the NTFP directorate. He said that grazing had been banned in the designated conservation areas with the active participation of the local communities.

To mobilise the local communities, he said, village management committees had been established and the directorate had trained many local people in sustainable harvest of medicinal plants.

He said that the NTFP directorate would identify the conservation area in each forest range of Chitral forest division based on their rich medicinal plants diversity. He said that in the developmental areas, the medicinal plant species of the neighbouring areas would also be cultivated.