Conserve Precious Herbs

Though the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal is rich in medicinal herbs, it seems that the authorities have failed to initiate any concrete programmes for their development, protection or conservation. Given the fact that Nepal’s high mountains are a great store of such rare herbs of high medicinal value, it is essential they must be conserved and developed both for their utilisation in health care as well as in earning foreign exchange. Though the health and conservation officials make tall promises to protect them, the high mountains continue to suffer from rapacious and illegal harvesting of the wild herbs. Due to lack of a proper policy, smuggling of these herbs has increased at an alarming proportion over the last few months. This not only poses a threat to such rare flora and fauna, but also causes a huge loss in terms of national revenues. Therefore, the concerned bodies should give a serious thought towards this issue.

Rameshwar Thapa
Mahendranagar, Dhanusha