Vanishing Taxus baccata L. Due to Unsustainable Exploitation and Climate Change in West Kameng and Tawang Districts of Arunachal Pradesh

Gibji Nimasow; Oyi Dai Nimasow; Gendan Tsering

doi:doi:10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12

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Vanishing Taxus baccata L. Due to Unsustainable Exploitation and Climate Change in West Kameng and Tawang Districts of Arunachal Pradesh

Gibji Nimasow, Oyi Dai Nimasow, Gendan Tsering

Published in Earth Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 3-1)

Received: 21 January 2015 Accepted: 22 January 2015 Published: 3 March 2015

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Abstract

Taxus baccata, a small to medium sized tree is valuable for extraction of taxol which is used in preparation of anti-cancer drugs (breast and ovarian cancer), kaposi’s sarcoma (an AIDS related cancer) and over 20 such other indications. The plant is rare, endangered and listed in Appendix II of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) showing widespread decline in population and increasing fragmentation worldwide. Around 2 to 3 million kg of biomass is harvested annually where as the sustainable rate of harvesting is estimated to be 0.6 million kg per year. It grows at an altitudinal range of 1500 to 3000 m throughout Arunachal Pradesh in Bomdila, Shergaon, Eagle Nest, Dirang, Thungri, Tawang, Mago and Zemithang in West Kameng and Tawang Districts, Tale Valley (few trees only) of Lower Subansiri, Anini, Mayodiya in Dibang Valley district, Mechuka in West Siang and Melinja and Hot spring areas of Lohit District. Random linear transacts in West Kameng and Tawang districts of Arunachal Pradesh recorded a total of 265 Taxus plants. Out of which, 130 are live trees and 135 are dead plants. In the absence of standard lopping technique and non-existence of any regulatory mechanisms for sustainable harvest, the leaves were pruned mercilessly to the extent that plant could not withstand to survive. Moreover, the pressing demands and associated lucrative price lured middlemen and villagers to plunder this scarce resource pushing it to the extreme limits of disappearance. The interaction with the villagers revealed that about 100 trucks of Taxus leaves were supplied each from villages of the area. Thus, around 1000 full grown trees have been completely pruned from the area before the ban imposed by the Supreme Court of India in 1996. The results point towards unsustainable and unorganized way of exploitation of the plant in the eastern Himalayas during the recent past. Although Taxus baccata is known to be tolerant to shade, high temperature and low moisture stress but the sudden and unlikely changes in climatic variables may cause both positive and negative impacts on the future of the plant. Hence, the paper attempts to discuss the impact of unsustainable exploitation as well as climate change and suggest suitable strategies for conservation and modeling of this rare and endangered medicinal plant in the study area.

Published in	Earth Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 3-1) This article belongs to the Special Issue Conservation of Taxus Spp. (Yew)
DOI	10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12
Page(s)	11-18
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Taxus baccata, Taxol, Unsustainable, Exploitation, Climate Change

References

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Gibji Nimasow, Oyi Dai Nimasow, Gendan Tsering. (2015). Vanishing Taxus baccata L. Due to Unsustainable Exploitation and Climate Change in West Kameng and Tawang Districts of Arunachal Pradesh. Earth Sciences, 4(3-1), 11-18. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12

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Gibji Nimasow; Oyi Dai Nimasow; Gendan Tsering. Vanishing Taxus baccata L. Due to Unsustainable Exploitation and Climate Change in West Kameng and Tawang Districts of Arunachal Pradesh. Earth Sci. 2015, 4(3-1), 11-18. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12

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AMA Style

Gibji Nimasow, Oyi Dai Nimasow, Gendan Tsering. Vanishing Taxus baccata L. Due to Unsustainable Exploitation and Climate Change in West Kameng and Tawang Districts of Arunachal Pradesh. Earth Sci. 2015;4(3-1):11-18. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12

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@article{10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12,
  author = {Gibji Nimasow and Oyi Dai Nimasow and Gendan Tsering},
  title = {Vanishing Taxus baccata L. Due to Unsustainable Exploitation and Climate Change in West Kameng and Tawang Districts of Arunachal Pradesh},
  journal = {Earth Sciences},
  volume = {4},
  number = {3-1},
  pages = {11-18},
  doi = {10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.earth.s.2015040301.12},
  abstract = {Taxus baccata, a small to medium sized tree is valuable for extraction of taxol which is used in preparation of anti-cancer drugs (breast and ovarian cancer), kaposi’s sarcoma (an AIDS related cancer) and over 20 such other indications. The plant is rare, endangered and listed in Appendix II of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) showing widespread decline in population and increasing fragmentation worldwide. Around 2 to 3 million kg of biomass is harvested annually where as the sustainable rate of harvesting is estimated to be 0.6 million kg per year. It grows at an altitudinal range of 1500 to 3000 m throughout Arunachal Pradesh in Bomdila, Shergaon, Eagle Nest, Dirang, Thungri, Tawang, Mago and Zemithang in West Kameng and Tawang Districts, Tale Valley (few trees only) of Lower Subansiri, Anini, Mayodiya in Dibang Valley district, Mechuka in West Siang and Melinja and Hot spring areas of Lohit District. Random linear transacts in West Kameng and Tawang districts of Arunachal Pradesh recorded a total of 265 Taxus plants. Out of which, 130 are live trees and 135 are dead plants. In the absence of standard lopping technique and non-existence of any regulatory mechanisms for sustainable harvest, the leaves were pruned mercilessly to the extent that plant could not withstand to survive. Moreover, the pressing demands and associated lucrative price lured middlemen and villagers to plunder this scarce resource pushing it to the extreme limits of disappearance. The interaction with the villagers revealed that about 100 trucks of Taxus leaves were supplied each from villages of the area. Thus, around 1000 full grown trees have been completely pruned from the area before the ban imposed by the Supreme Court of India in 1996. The results point towards unsustainable and unorganized way of exploitation of the plant in the eastern Himalayas during the recent past. Although Taxus baccata is known to be tolerant to shade, high temperature and low moisture stress but the sudden and unlikely changes in climatic variables may cause both positive and negative impacts on the future of the plant. Hence, the paper attempts to discuss the impact of unsustainable exploitation as well as climate change and suggest suitable strategies for conservation and modeling of this rare and endangered medicinal plant in the study area.},
 year = {2015}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Vanishing Taxus baccata L. Due to Unsustainable Exploitation and Climate Change in West Kameng and Tawang Districts of Arunachal Pradesh
AU  - Gibji Nimasow
AU  - Oyi Dai Nimasow
AU  - Gendan Tsering
Y1  - 2015/03/03
PY  - 2015
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12
T2  - Earth Sciences
JF  - Earth Sciences
JO  - Earth Sciences
SP  - 11
EP  - 18
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-5982
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12
AB  - Taxus baccata, a small to medium sized tree is valuable for extraction of taxol which is used in preparation of anti-cancer drugs (breast and ovarian cancer), kaposi’s sarcoma (an AIDS related cancer) and over 20 such other indications. The plant is rare, endangered and listed in Appendix II of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) showing widespread decline in population and increasing fragmentation worldwide. Around 2 to 3 million kg of biomass is harvested annually where as the sustainable rate of harvesting is estimated to be 0.6 million kg per year. It grows at an altitudinal range of 1500 to 3000 m throughout Arunachal Pradesh in Bomdila, Shergaon, Eagle Nest, Dirang, Thungri, Tawang, Mago and Zemithang in West Kameng and Tawang Districts, Tale Valley (few trees only) of Lower Subansiri, Anini, Mayodiya in Dibang Valley district, Mechuka in West Siang and Melinja and Hot spring areas of Lohit District. Random linear transacts in West Kameng and Tawang districts of Arunachal Pradesh recorded a total of 265 Taxus plants. Out of which, 130 are live trees and 135 are dead plants. In the absence of standard lopping technique and non-existence of any regulatory mechanisms for sustainable harvest, the leaves were pruned mercilessly to the extent that plant could not withstand to survive. Moreover, the pressing demands and associated lucrative price lured middlemen and villagers to plunder this scarce resource pushing it to the extreme limits of disappearance. The interaction with the villagers revealed that about 100 trucks of Taxus leaves were supplied each from villages of the area. Thus, around 1000 full grown trees have been completely pruned from the area before the ban imposed by the Supreme Court of India in 1996. The results point towards unsustainable and unorganized way of exploitation of the plant in the eastern Himalayas during the recent past. Although Taxus baccata is known to be tolerant to shade, high temperature and low moisture stress but the sudden and unlikely changes in climatic variables may cause both positive and negative impacts on the future of the plant. Hence, the paper attempts to discuss the impact of unsustainable exploitation as well as climate change and suggest suitable strategies for conservation and modeling of this rare and endangered medicinal plant in the study area.
VL  - 4
IS  - 3-1
ER  -

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Author Information

Gibji Nimasow

Department of Geography, Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Oyi Dai Nimasow

Department of Botany, Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Gendan Tsering

Department of Geography, Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India

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APA Style

Gibji Nimasow, Oyi Dai Nimasow, Gendan Tsering. (2015). Vanishing Taxus baccata L. Due to Unsustainable Exploitation and Climate Change in West Kameng and Tawang Districts of Arunachal Pradesh. Earth Sciences, 4(3-1), 11-18. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12

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ACS Style

Gibji Nimasow; Oyi Dai Nimasow; Gendan Tsering. Vanishing Taxus baccata L. Due to Unsustainable Exploitation and Climate Change in West Kameng and Tawang Districts of Arunachal Pradesh. Earth Sci. 2015, 4(3-1), 11-18. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12

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AMA Style

Gibji Nimasow, Oyi Dai Nimasow, Gendan Tsering. Vanishing Taxus baccata L. Due to Unsustainable Exploitation and Climate Change in West Kameng and Tawang Districts of Arunachal Pradesh. Earth Sci. 2015;4(3-1):11-18. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12,
  author = {Gibji Nimasow and Oyi Dai Nimasow and Gendan Tsering},
  title = {Vanishing Taxus baccata L. Due to Unsustainable Exploitation and Climate Change in West Kameng and Tawang Districts of Arunachal Pradesh},
  journal = {Earth Sciences},
  volume = {4},
  number = {3-1},
  pages = {11-18},
  doi = {10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.earth.s.2015040301.12},
  abstract = {Taxus baccata, a small to medium sized tree is valuable for extraction of taxol which is used in preparation of anti-cancer drugs (breast and ovarian cancer), kaposi’s sarcoma (an AIDS related cancer) and over 20 such other indications. The plant is rare, endangered and listed in Appendix II of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) showing widespread decline in population and increasing fragmentation worldwide. Around 2 to 3 million kg of biomass is harvested annually where as the sustainable rate of harvesting is estimated to be 0.6 million kg per year. It grows at an altitudinal range of 1500 to 3000 m throughout Arunachal Pradesh in Bomdila, Shergaon, Eagle Nest, Dirang, Thungri, Tawang, Mago and Zemithang in West Kameng and Tawang Districts, Tale Valley (few trees only) of Lower Subansiri, Anini, Mayodiya in Dibang Valley district, Mechuka in West Siang and Melinja and Hot spring areas of Lohit District. Random linear transacts in West Kameng and Tawang districts of Arunachal Pradesh recorded a total of 265 Taxus plants. Out of which, 130 are live trees and 135 are dead plants. In the absence of standard lopping technique and non-existence of any regulatory mechanisms for sustainable harvest, the leaves were pruned mercilessly to the extent that plant could not withstand to survive. Moreover, the pressing demands and associated lucrative price lured middlemen and villagers to plunder this scarce resource pushing it to the extreme limits of disappearance. The interaction with the villagers revealed that about 100 trucks of Taxus leaves were supplied each from villages of the area. Thus, around 1000 full grown trees have been completely pruned from the area before the ban imposed by the Supreme Court of India in 1996. The results point towards unsustainable and unorganized way of exploitation of the plant in the eastern Himalayas during the recent past. Although Taxus baccata is known to be tolerant to shade, high temperature and low moisture stress but the sudden and unlikely changes in climatic variables may cause both positive and negative impacts on the future of the plant. Hence, the paper attempts to discuss the impact of unsustainable exploitation as well as climate change and suggest suitable strategies for conservation and modeling of this rare and endangered medicinal plant in the study area.},
 year = {2015}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Vanishing Taxus baccata L. Due to Unsustainable Exploitation and Climate Change in West Kameng and Tawang Districts of Arunachal Pradesh
AU  - Gibji Nimasow
AU  - Oyi Dai Nimasow
AU  - Gendan Tsering
Y1  - 2015/03/03
PY  - 2015
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12
T2  - Earth Sciences
JF  - Earth Sciences
JO  - Earth Sciences
SP  - 11
EP  - 18
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-5982
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.12
AB  - Taxus baccata, a small to medium sized tree is valuable for extraction of taxol which is used in preparation of anti-cancer drugs (breast and ovarian cancer), kaposi’s sarcoma (an AIDS related cancer) and over 20 such other indications. The plant is rare, endangered and listed in Appendix II of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) showing widespread decline in population and increasing fragmentation worldwide. Around 2 to 3 million kg of biomass is harvested annually where as the sustainable rate of harvesting is estimated to be 0.6 million kg per year. It grows at an altitudinal range of 1500 to 3000 m throughout Arunachal Pradesh in Bomdila, Shergaon, Eagle Nest, Dirang, Thungri, Tawang, Mago and Zemithang in West Kameng and Tawang Districts, Tale Valley (few trees only) of Lower Subansiri, Anini, Mayodiya in Dibang Valley district, Mechuka in West Siang and Melinja and Hot spring areas of Lohit District. Random linear transacts in West Kameng and Tawang districts of Arunachal Pradesh recorded a total of 265 Taxus plants. Out of which, 130 are live trees and 135 are dead plants. In the absence of standard lopping technique and non-existence of any regulatory mechanisms for sustainable harvest, the leaves were pruned mercilessly to the extent that plant could not withstand to survive. Moreover, the pressing demands and associated lucrative price lured middlemen and villagers to plunder this scarce resource pushing it to the extreme limits of disappearance. The interaction with the villagers revealed that about 100 trucks of Taxus leaves were supplied each from villages of the area. Thus, around 1000 full grown trees have been completely pruned from the area before the ban imposed by the Supreme Court of India in 1996. The results point towards unsustainable and unorganized way of exploitation of the plant in the eastern Himalayas during the recent past. Although Taxus baccata is known to be tolerant to shade, high temperature and low moisture stress but the sudden and unlikely changes in climatic variables may cause both positive and negative impacts on the future of the plant. Hence, the paper attempts to discuss the impact of unsustainable exploitation as well as climate change and suggest suitable strategies for conservation and modeling of this rare and endangered medicinal plant in the study area.
VL  - 4
IS  - 3-1
ER  -

Copy | Download