DOI: https://doi.org/10.36344/ccijhss.2024.v10i09.005

Pages: 204-210

The Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot is the home of one of the richest medicinal plant biodiversity in India, in Arunachal Pradesh. The use of traditional medicine from plants plays an important role in Indigenous peoples' health, cultural continuity and means of livelihood throughout the state. However, the fast socio-economic changes, the degradation of the ecosystems, and unregulated extraction pose threat to medicinal plant resources and traditional knowledge systems. The article gives a comprehensive review on: (i) traditional ethnomedicinal uses, (ii) conservation issues and, strategies and (iii) economic potential of medicinal plants as means of livelihood. Through the ethnobotanical studies, conservation literature, and political-economic analysis, this paper contends that medicinal plants are not only biological resources, but also socio-ecological capital, which is vital to inclusive development in Arunachal Pradesh if it is to be managed sustainably.