Abstract

Medicinal plants are highly valuable to human livelihood and the Indian Himalaya is well recognized amongst unique and globally important medicinal plant rich areas. Studies on possible effects of climate change on medicinal plants are particularly significant due to their value within traditional systems of medicine and as economically useful plants. There are evidences that climate change is causing noticeable effects on life cycles and distribution of the plant species. However, it is largely unclear about climate change effects on secondary chemicals production in plants and particularly in high altitude medicinal plants of Indian Himalaya. Elsewhere this perspective has been given renewed attention recently. A need for research to improve our understanding of these effects on high-altitude medicinal plants is stressed in the present article.

Key words: Indian Himalayan region, climate change, conservation, medicinal plants, secondary metabolites.