KATHMANDU, Feb 3: WWF Nepal in association with the Himalayan Amchi Association Nepal launched a book titled Sowa Rigpa, Ethnobotany, and Conservation of Threatened Species in Nepal at an event in Kathmandu on Wednesday.
According to a statement issued by WWF Nepal, the book is an outcome of a research conducted in collaboration with the Amchis of Nepal, practitioners of the science of healing known as Sowa Rigpa and supported by Himalayan Amchi Association (HAA), WWF Nepal, Dartmouth College, USA and the Central Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University (TU), Nepal.
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Written by Suresh Kumar Ghimire from TU, Amchi Gyatso Bista and Norbu Sangpo Lama from Himalayan Amchi Association, and Sienna R Craig from Dartmouth College, the book presents information about Sowa Rigpa, including histories of knowledge transmission and clinical practices among Nepal’s Amchi practitioners, the medicinal ingredients prescribed with a focus on Himalayan medicinal plants, and the practices of substitution (Tibetan: tshab) for substances derived from species that have become rare and endangered or are at risk. It also includes a compendium of medicinal plant species.
“The book encompasses the traditional medicinal practices by Amchis in some of the harshest topographic regions of the country, so it paves way for documentation as well as development of such treatment methods,” the statement quotes Dr Babu Raja Amatya, chief of Ayurveda and Alternative Medicine at the Ministry of Health and Population and the chief guest of the event as saying.
The launch event was attended by representatives from Himalayan Amchi Association, TU, Himalayan Bouddha Foundation, Sowa Rigpa International College and WWF Nepal, according to the statement.
