This volume is a collection of papers by experts in medicinal plants, presented to help clarify the many policy and technical issues associated with the conservation, use, production and trade of medicinal plants. The publication draws attention to the huge contribution of medicinal plants to traditional and modern health care system. It also alerts readers on the many problems and challenges facing their sustainable development. Subjects covered include assessment and management of the medicinal plant resource base; best harvesting and processing practices; trade issues; and intellectual property rights regarding traditional medicines of indigenous peoples. This documents will help raise awareness of medicinal plants as an important forest resource and will help ensure that medicinal plants are adequately included in forest conservation and utilization programmes. Contents Chapter 1: Introduction by G C Bodeker; Part I: General Articles covering Global Issues; Forest based medicines in traditional and cosmopolitan health care by A P Van Seters, Enthnobotanical research and traditional health care in developing countries by M Balick and P A Cox, Between a rock and a hard place: Indigenous peoples, nation states and the multinationals by G Dutfield, Industrial utilisation of medicinal plants in developing countries by T de Silva, Trade in Medicinal Plants by S E Kuipers, Medicinal plant information database by K K S Bhat; Part II: Articles on Regional Aspects of Medicinal Plants Use; Biodiversity-People Interface in Nepal by N Bhattarai, Beyond the Biodiversity convention-the challenges facing the bio-cultural heritage of india s medicinal plants by D Shankar and B Majumdar, A biocultural medicinal plants conservation project in Sri Lanka by L de Alwis, utilisation and conservation of medicinal plants in China with special reference to Atractylides lancea by S-A He and N Sheng, An Africa-wide overview of medicinial plant harvesting, conservation and health care by A B Cunningham, Biodiversity conservation and the application of Amazonian medicinal plants in the control of malaria by W Milliken, Bulgarian model for regulating the trade in plant material for medicinal and other purposes by D Lange and M Mladenova, Phytomedicinal forest harvest in the United States by J A Duke.