Biodiversity · Conservation · Natural Products Industry
Biodiversity and the Future of India's Natural Products Industry
Every Ayurvedic churna, herbal tea, plant-based cosmetic and natural supplement made in India draws on the same source: the country's extraordinary variety of living things. Forests, mountains, grasslands and coastlines supply the roots, barks, leaves, resins and seeds that the natural products industry depends on. That variety is not endless. Overharvesting, habitat loss and a changing climate are putting real pressure on many of the plants that Indian wellness traditions rely on. This guide explains why biodiversity is the true foundation of India's natural products sector, what threatens it, how the law and science are responding, and what brands and buyers can do to make sure these resources are still here for the next generation.
- India: One of the World's Megadiverse Nations
- Why Biodiversity Is the Foundation of Natural Products
- The Pressures on India's Plant Wealth
- The Law: Biological Diversity Act and the 2023 Amendment
- Access and Benefit Sharing: Fairness for Communities
- Cultivation and Conservation: Finding the Middle Path
- How Science and Technology Can Help
- The Opportunity Ahead for Indian Natural Products
- What Brands and Consumers Can Do
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Final Word
India: One of the World's Megadiverse Nations
Few countries can match India's natural variety. Within a single nation you will find snow-capped Himalayan peaks, the Thar desert, the rainforests of the Northeast, the evergreen Western Ghats, vast central Indian forests, mangrove coasts and island ecosystems. Each of these habitats supports its own mix of plants, animals, fungi and microbes.
According to India's country profile with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), India is one of the recognised megadiverse countries, holding around 7 to 8 percent of the world's recorded species. It includes parts of four global biodiversity hotspots: the Himalaya, Indo-Burma, the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, and Sundaland. Over 45,000 plant species have been documented across its ten biogeographic regions. The same profile describes India as a vast store of traditional knowledge linked to these biological resources.
That combination of rich biodiversity and deep traditional knowledge is exactly what gave rise to Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Sowa-Rigpa and countless folk healing practices. It is also what gives India's natural products industry its global edge.
Why Biodiversity Is the Foundation of Natural Products
It is easy to think of the natural products industry as factories, packaging lines and marketing. But everything starts with living resources. Take biodiversity away and there is nothing left to process.
A Living Pharmacy
Ayurvedic formulations often combine several herbs, each chosen for particular qualities. A single classical formula may draw on roots from central India, fruits from the Himalayan foothills and resins from dry western regions. Losing even one ingredient can make it impossible to prepare a formula as the texts describe.
Chemical Variety Comes from Biological Variety
Plants produce a remarkable range of compounds, from alkaloids and flavonoids to saponins and essential oils. Much of this chemistry evolved to help plants survive in specific environments. More species and more habitats mean a wider library of useful natural compounds for wellness, food, cosmetics and medicine.
Genetic Diversity Within Species
Even within one species, plants from different regions can vary in strength and composition. Ashwagandha from one area may carry a different compound profile from ashwagandha grown elsewhere. This genetic diversity is valuable. It allows breeders and farmers to select high-quality varieties and helps plants adapt to disease and changing weather. When wild populations shrink, that genetic library shrinks too.
Healthy Ecosystems, Healthy Harvests
Medicinal plants depend on pollinators, soil microbes, forest cover and clean water. A herb growing in a degraded, polluted habitat is more likely to be weak or contaminated. Protecting ecosystems is therefore also a way of protecting product quality.
The Pressures on India's Plant Wealth
Demand for herbal and Ayurvedic products has grown quickly in India and abroad. That is good news for traditional medicine and for rural incomes, but it also creates strain on natural resources.
Overharvesting and Destructive Collection
Many medicinal plants are still collected from the wild. When roots, bulbs or whole plants are dug up, the plant usually dies. If collection outpaces natural regrowth, populations decline. High-value Himalayan herbs such as jatamansi, kutki and atis have faced this kind of pressure, and several traded medicinal species are now listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the global reference for extinction risk.
Habitat Loss
Forests cleared for roads, mining, farming and urban growth take their medicinal plants with them. Fragmented habitats also make it harder for plant populations to recover and spread.
Climate Change
Warmer temperatures and shifting rainfall are affecting where plants can grow. In the Himalayas, some alpine species have nowhere higher to move as conditions change. Changes in flowering times can also disrupt pollination and seed production.
Invasive Species
Fast-spreading plants such as lantana have taken over large areas of Indian forests, crowding out native species, including some medicinal herbs.
Non-Renewable Natural Materials
Not every natural ingredient is a plant. Shilajit, for example, is a mineral-rich resin that forms very slowly in Himalayan rock crevices from decomposed plant matter. It cannot be farmed, and it does not regrow on a human timescale. Careless or excessive collection can exhaust local sources, which makes responsible sourcing especially important.
The Law: Biological Diversity Act and the 2023 Amendment
India signed up to the Convention on Biological Diversity in the 1990s and passed the Biological Diversity Act in 2002 to put its goals into practice. The Act has three main aims: conserving biodiversity, using its parts sustainably and sharing the benefits of that use fairly.
A Three-Tier System
The Act is implemented through the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) at the national level, State Biodiversity Boards in each state, and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at the local level. BMCs prepare People's Biodiversity Registers, which record local plants, animals and the traditional knowledge linked to them.
What Changed in 2023
The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023 came into force on 1 April 2024. Among its stated aims are reducing pressure on wild medicinal plants by encouraging their cultivation and supporting Indian systems of medicine. Some key changes include:
- Easier compliance for Indian companies using biological resources.
- Exemptions for users of codified traditional knowledge and registered AYUSH practitioners from certain requirements.
- Exemptions for cultivated medicinal plants and their products, linked to a certificate of origin from the local BMC.
- Replacement of many criminal penalties with civil penalties.
Supporters say the changes will encourage cultivation and make it easier for Ayurvedic businesses to grow. Critics worry that wider exemptions could reduce benefits flowing to local communities. Both views highlight the same truth: the law works best when businesses go beyond minimum compliance and take responsibility for how their raw materials are sourced.
Access and Benefit Sharing: Fairness for Communities
Much of India's knowledge about medicinal plants has been built up over generations by tribal communities, forest dwellers, farmers and traditional healers. Access and Benefit Sharing, often shortened to ABS, is the principle that when companies profit from biological resources or related knowledge, the people who conserved them should share in those benefits.
What Benefit Sharing Looks Like
Benefits can be monetary, such as payments to local Biodiversity Management Committees, or non-monetary, such as training, fair buying contracts, local processing units and support for conservation work.
Why It Matters for the Industry
When collectors and farmers earn a fair income from medicinal plants, they have a direct reason to protect them. Communities that see value in a healthy forest are more likely to harvest carefully, prevent overcollection and guard against illegal trade. Fairness is not only an ethical issue. It is one of the most practical conservation tools available.
Protecting Traditional Knowledge
India's Traditional Knowledge Digital Library helps prevent foreign patents on classical remedies by documenting them in formats patent examiners can search. Together with People's Biodiversity Registers, it helps make sure that India's knowledge heritage is recognised and protected.
Cultivation and Conservation: Finding the Middle Path
There is no single solution to protecting medicinal plant biodiversity. The most promising approach combines several strategies.
Moving High-Demand Species to Farms
Growing popular medicinal plants as crops reduces pressure on the wild and gives farmers a valuable income. Government bodies such as the National Medicinal Plants Board support this with quality planting material, cluster farming and post-harvest support. The challenge is keeping cultivated herbs as potent as wild ones, which calls for good varieties, healthy soil and correct harvest timing.
Sustainable Wild Harvesting
Some plants are difficult to cultivate or lose quality on farms. For these, sustainable wild collection is the answer: taking only a portion of each population, harvesting after seeds have set, rotating collection areas and using methods that do not kill the plant where possible.
In Situ and Ex Situ Conservation
In situ conservation protects plants in their natural habitats, for example through protected areas, sacred groves and Biodiversity Heritage Sites. Ex situ conservation keeps them safe outside their habitats, in herbal gardens, botanical gardens, nurseries and seed banks. Both approaches work together to keep genetic diversity alive.
Agroforestry and Mixed Farming
Growing medicinal plants alongside trees and food crops can recreate some of the conditions these plants enjoy in the wild. It also spreads risk for farmers, who are not dependent on a single crop.
How Science and Technology Can Help
Modern tools are giving conservationists and the natural products industry new ways to protect biodiversity while improving quality.
DNA Barcoding and Authentication
DNA barcoding can identify plant species from small samples. This helps catch substitution with look-alike species and can expose illegal trade in protected plants.
Plant Tissue Culture
Tissue culture allows large numbers of healthy plantlets to be grown from small amounts of plant material. It is especially useful for rare or slow-growing species that are hard to propagate from seed.
Mapping and Monitoring
Satellite imagery and GIS mapping help track forest cover, identify medicinal plant hotspots and monitor changes over time. This information supports better planning for both conservation and sustainable collection.
Digital Traceability
Digital records, QR codes and supply chain tracking systems can link a finished product back to its source region and batch. This makes it easier for brands to prove responsible sourcing and for consumers to verify it.
The Opportunity Ahead for Indian Natural Products
Protecting biodiversity is not only about avoiding loss. It is also about building a stronger, more valuable industry.
Origin as a Mark of Value
Global buyers increasingly care where natural ingredients come from. Geographical Indication (GI) tags, such as the one for Kandhamal Haladi turmeric from Odisha, show how a specific origin can become a mark of quality and command better prices for local growers.
Sustainability as a Competitive Edge
International markets are tightening rules on sourcing, traceability and sustainability. Indian brands that can document responsible practices will find it easier to export and to win the trust of informed consumers at home.
Rural Livelihoods
Medicinal plant cultivation and sustainable collection can provide steady income in rural and tribal areas. A well-managed natural products sector can support millions of livelihoods while protecting the very resources it depends on.
Global Commitments
India is part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in 2022, which includes a target to conserve 30 percent of land and sea areas by 2030. Industries that align with these goals are likely to be better placed as policies evolve.
| Challenge | Impact on the Industry | Practical Response |
|---|---|---|
| Overharvesting | Scarce supply, rising prices | Sustainable collection rules, cultivation |
| Habitat loss | Loss of wild sources and genetic diversity | Protected areas, heritage sites, ex situ gardens |
| Climate change | Shifting growing zones, variable quality | Research, seed banks, adaptive farming |
| Adulteration | Weak or unsafe products, loss of trust | DNA barcoding, lab testing, traceability |
| Unfair benefit sharing | Low incentive for communities to conserve | Fair prices, ABS, community partnerships |
What Brands and Consumers Can Do
For Brands
- Know where every key ingredient comes from and whether it is wild or cultivated.
- Avoid threatened species, or source them only from verified cultivation.
- Work with collectors and farmers on fair, long-term terms.
- Follow the Biological Diversity Act and respect benefit-sharing duties.
- Test raw materials to confirm identity and purity.
- Share sourcing information openly with customers.
For Consumers
- Choose brands that explain where their ingredients come from.
- Be cautious of very cheap products made from rare or slow-growing materials.
- Look for licensing, testing and clear botanical names on labels.
- Support brands that invest in cultivation and community partnerships.
Some Indian wellness brands are already building these ideas into how they work. ACTIZEET®, which works with Himalayan shilajit, is one example of a brand that places weight on careful collection, purification and batch testing, recognising that a slow-forming mountain resource needs to be treated with respect if it is to last.
Frequently Asked Questions
Biodiversity supplies the plants, resins, minerals and other raw materials that herbal, Ayurvedic and plant-based products are made from. A wider variety of species and healthy ecosystems mean more ingredients, better quality and a more secure long-term supply.
It is India's main law for conserving biodiversity, promoting sustainable use of biological resources and ensuring fair sharing of benefits. It works through the National Biodiversity Authority, State Biodiversity Boards and local Biodiversity Management Committees. It was amended in 2023, with the changes taking effect from 1 April 2024.
Access and benefit sharing means that when businesses use biological resources or traditional knowledge commercially, the communities that conserved them should receive a fair share of the benefits, either as money or through support such as training and local development.
Some are. Several high-value medicinal plants, particularly Himalayan species collected from the wild, face serious pressure from overharvesting and habitat loss. Many common Ayurvedic herbs are widely cultivated and not at risk, but responsible sourcing is important for all of them.
Choose brands that share clear sourcing information, avoid suspiciously cheap products made from rare materials, look for proper licensing and testing, and support companies that invest in cultivation and fair partnerships with farmers and collectors.
Final Word: Protecting the Source Protects the Future
India's natural products industry rests on a remarkable inheritance: thousands of plant species, living ecosystems and centuries of traditional knowledge. That inheritance is the industry's greatest strength, but it is not guaranteed. Overharvesting, habitat loss and climate change are real threats, and the rising demand for natural products adds to the pressure. The good news is that the tools to respond already exist. Better laws, fair benefit sharing, careful cultivation, sustainable wild harvesting and modern science can all help. What matters now is whether businesses and buyers choose to use them. The future of Ayurveda and Indian natural products will be decided not only in laboratories and markets, but in forests, farms and mountain slopes. Protect the source, and the industry will thrive for generations to come.
