The Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) in India is one of the leading institutions imparting training, teaching and consultancy on the forestry, environment and allied sectors for past three decades. The Post Graduate Diploma in Forestry Management (PGDFM) is one of the flagship programmes of the IIFM, which is a fulltime two years residential programme. Four year ago, in 2008, I planned to introduce a new course on the Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (2167-0412s) to the students of PGDFM. Since the PGDFM is opened for the graduates of diverse streames including science, art and commerce, designing the course and its contents become a challenging task. Besides, the PGDFM is a job oriented programme, which has record of 100% placements for all the batches since its inception.

Before indulging fully in structuring the course on 2167-0412s, I was in the impression that it would be an easy task as I have had over 20 years of experience on the 2167-0412s. But soon I realized that it was not so easy as I thought earlier. Once I started compiling literature, the task became too complicated, not because of scarcity of literature but the availability of huge amount of valuable and multidimentional literature on 2167-0412s. The uses of plants as medicine are mentioned in the Rigveda – one of the oldest vedic literature written around 4500-1600 BC. Apart from the continuous accumulation of knowledge on 2167-0412s from antiquity, the number of scientific institutions and colleges dealing with multiple research and developmental issues of 2167-0412s have been established today. At present, several other disciplines including biotechnology, molecular biology and biochemistry have been embedded in 2167-0412s and thus studying 2167-0412s requires the basic understanding of such associated disciples as well.

The multidisciplinary nature of 2167-0412s, which include traditional knowledge systems, agrotechnology, biotechnology, molecular biology, conservation biology, marketing, finance, law and policy also inflated the level of my efforts in selection of suitable course contents. I discussed such problems with the experts of 2167-0412s including my faculty colleagues at IIFM, and after several rounds of discussions and suggestions made by experts, I thought to specify the objectives and scope of the course. In order to make the course reasonable and acceptable for the students of diverse backgrounds, I focussed the course towards enterprises development, and finally the course was designed with the title ‘Medicinal Aromatic Plants and Enterprises Development’ (2167-0412ED). This helps me to restrict and screen the literature on 2167-0412s focussing enterprises development. The basic concepts and significance of 2167-0412s remain the part of the course.

In 30 sessions course in which each session is of one hour, apart from imparting general knowledge on 2167-0412s, the different case studies on cultivation and conservation practices, demand and supply, devleoping market infrastructure, laws, policy, and patent issues are included. Some success stories on micro and macro enterprises in 2167-0412s are incorporated in the 2167-0412ED course. This course also includes various international policies and guidelines such as Good Agriculture and Collection Practices of Medicinal Plants developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), norms of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA of USA), Article 8 (j) of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES), patents and patent procedures in different countries. This helps to widen the understanding of its taker on 2167-0412s in larger perspetive.

The 2167-0412ED course content is appreciated by the students and it is expected that such courses on 2167-0412s are the need of hour, which not only pass on knowledge and creat awareness through generations but also develop the skilled man power to develop and strengthen the 2167-0412s sector. Most of the valuable knowledge on 2167-0412s evolved through number of trials and errors over centuries, especially on medicinal plants, has declined in the past due to several reasons including ignorance and some inherent problems in transferring the knowledge through generations [1,2]. Even today, many traditional herbal practitioners do not disclose the medicinal properties of some valuable medicinal plant species. If concerted efforts are not made timely in documenting such valuable knowledge it may be lost forever.

Today, the significance of traditional knowledge on medicinal plants to the society can be adjudged by the example of Artimisia annua – which was used long back in the Chinese Medical System but remained ignored for long period of time [3]. The rediscovery of Artimisia annua for curing malarial fever using modern scientific tools is a lession to the society to appreciate, scientifically validate and transfer such an extremely valuable knowledge through all possible medium of communications. It is a matter of great pleasure to me to introduce the ‘Medicinal and Aromatic Plants’ journal to the readers as I feel that the gaps in documentation and dissemintion of informaiton on the 2167-0412s will be bridged by this journal.