Institutional Interplay in Natural Resources Governance: Toward a Sub-Sectoral Approach for Medicinal Plants Management in Bangladesh

Abstract

Recognizing the significance of medicinal plants for rural livelihoods and primary healthcare, this paper attempted to analyze institutional interplays in medicinal plants management in Bangladesh. It assessed the governing process of natural resources by identifying cross-scale linkages of the institutions involved with managing medicinal plants. The study intended to delineate the interactional patterns and dynamics between existing formal and informal organizations toward exploring prospects of new medicinal plants governance institutions. Employing case study and participatory approaches to empirical field investigation, two intervention cases of the Livelihood and Agro-Forestry (LEAF) and Sustainable Environmental Management Program (SEMP) were assessed in two different social-ecological settings of the country. Involving 45 respondents in each site, Focus Group Discussions were carried out, and a total of 26 Key Informants were interviewed. The findings have revealed that undefined roles and responsibilities, inadequate coordination, and weak linkages among the cross-scale institutions resulted in ineffective management and relatively poor performance. Institutions with direct or indirect involvement in the process of managing medicinal plants interacted haphazardly, without much focus on the subsector and its local producers. Addressing the weaknesses, this study calls for formulating a national sub-sectoral approach focusing on strengthening and sustaining local producers and value addition to OPEN ACCESS Resources 2015, 4 94 producer levels. Finally, this research offers a framework for developing a multi-stakeholder forum to govern medicinal plant resources coherently and effectively in Bangladesh.

Asian Medicinal Plants’ Production and Utilization Potentials: A Review

“…However, there is no clear information on the influence of both institutions in regulating access to and use of medicinal plants. This lack of clarity transcends the production system and equally includes commercialization and benefit sharing [53]. In Bangladesh and Nepal, for instance, uncoordinated cross-scale institutions and institutional bottlenecks hamper the functioning of medicinal plant systems [53,54,63].…”

“…This lack of clarity transcends the production system and equally includes commercialization and benefit sharing [53]. In Bangladesh and Nepal, for instance, uncoordinated cross-scale institutions and institutional bottlenecks hamper the functioning of medicinal plant systems [53,54,63]. Effective and sustainable regulations are required to guide medicinal plants production and commercialization systems around the Himalayas [64,65].…”

“…With respect to maintaining supply and promoting the growth of herbal industries, the bio-partnership approach is adopted to explain an equal partnership between the local community (small growers, women, tribal people) and herbal industries [53]. There are not so many studies about bio-partnerships; most cases are from India.…”

“…Generally, medicinal plant utilization without conservation efforts lead to species scarcity, especially for endangered species [53,[195][196][197]. Several articles highlight the importance of attitude change in promoting conservation [198][199][200][201].…”

“…The research was geared towards investigating the dual functions of medicinal plant use and its management for healthcare needs and livelihoods in community-based forestry settings [50,51] and the traditional healing potentials of local medicinal plant extraction [52]. These studies which support previous works on the fragmented nature of scientific literature on medicinal plants [53][54][55][56][57], contributed in shaping the interest to develop a review paper as a logical starting point. This review paper therefore sets a future research agenda on medicinal plants studies in Asia, with regards to empirical and analytical approaches to be employed on the subject.…”