Sustainable Development of Bioresources: Role of Biotechnological Tools

Abstract

In terms of the Biological Diversity Act-2002, a biological resource is defined as "plants, animals and microorganisms or parts thereof, their genetic material and by products (excluding value added products) with actual or potential use or value, but does not include human genetic material". Going by this definition which is essentially, statutory in nature-many biological resources are assumed to have 'actual' or 'potential' use or value attached to them. These actual or potential values may extend to a vast array of commercial applications such as foods, drugs, industrial enzymes, flavours, fragrances, cosmetics, oleoresins, colours etc. Of all the biological resources, medicinal plants stand tall in terms of their value because of their social relevance. A medicinal plant attains such a high degree of social relevance because of a fact that-it can be used by all strata of a society irrespective of value addition in terms of processing. For example, a forest