The Hindu 19.09.2009
Biodiversity panels in all local bodies soon
Special Correspondent
| Decision reached at workshop organised by Kerala State Biodiversity Board |
Biodiversity register to have information on plants and animals in each panchayat
Biodiversity management panels to have six members of whom two would be women
KOCHI: Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC), which will facilitate taking stock of the bio-resources, will be set up in all panchayats and municipalities in Ernakulam district by October 5.
This was decided at a district-level workshop for heads of local bodies organised by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) here on Friday. The workshop explained to the panchayat presidents and secretaries the concept and methodology of formation of BMCs and compiling of people’s biodiversity registers (PBR) in each panchayat. It also decided that panchayats’ and municipalities’ plan funds should be used for the compilation of the biodiversity registers. The Kerala Biological Diversity Rules 2008 mandates that “every local body shall constitute a BMC within its area of jurisdiction.” The key task of the BMC is “to ensure conservation, utilisation and equitable sharing of benefits from the biodiversity.” The BMCs at panchayat, municipal and city corporation levels are tasked with the compilation of the biodiversity registers using the process and format set by the Biodiversity Board.
M.L. Joseph, district coordinator of the biodiversity register project, told The Hindu that the PBR would gather information, within two to five months, on the different varieties of plants and animals available in each panchayat in the district. Apart from plants and animals, the traditional knowledge associated with them which were available with the respective communities for generations—for example, the medicinal property of a particular plant and its use— would also be gathered. F. George D’Cruz, senior programme coordinator of the KSBB, said each of the BMCs, headed by the panchayat president, would have not more than six members representing farmers, herbalists, fishworkers, non-timber forest produce collectors and related fields.Of them two would be women and one from the SC/ST communities.
