ABDUL WAHAB KHAN | NT
Staff reporter
PANAJI
The lackadaisical attitude by local self-governing bodies towards preparing ‘people’s biodiversity register’ is taking a toll on state’s rich biodiversity. Moreover, the absence of the register denies ‘benefits’ to those who have strived to conserve the biodiversity for generations.
A central government act mandates constitution of biodiversity management committees at panchayats, municipalities and city corporations. The committee has to work on preparing a public biodiversity register.
Among the 190 panchayats and 14 municipal bodies in the state only 105 biodiversity management committees have been formed, and about 10 committees have started working on preparing the register.
Village panchayats can levy a fee if an industrial unit uses the bio-resources commercially in their area. However, the absence of the register has put several endangered species at the risk of extinction, denying benefits to locals from commercial use of biological resources.
The central government legislated the Biodiversity Act in 2002 to conserve biodiversity, promote its sustainable use and enable “fair and equitable sharing of benefits” with local communities.
“We have issued notices to around 240 companies, including pharmaceuticals, fertiliser and others, asking them to sign an agreement on access benefit sharing if they want to exploit local resources commercially. However, only 35 per cent of them responded positively,” GSBB member secretary Pradip Sarmokadam said.
The Biodiversity Act, 2002, directs formation of biodiversity management committees at panchayats, municipalities and city corporations involving knowledgeable people and local residents.
The committee’s mandate includes preparation of the register and keeping records of bio-resources, plants, animals and traditional knowledge of the locals.
The panel has to work for protecting resources and ensure that locals benefit from commercial use of biological resources by charging a fee from the industrial units.
The success of a state biodiversity board, in many instances, is gauged by the number of BMCs formed. With only 104 notified BMCs in Goa, and not all functional, the authority find themselves having to convince people that the committee is desirable and that documenting biodiversity and its knowledge are worth conserving.
“We made good progress in the last two years. Local bodies do it. However, often they have to deal with political issues,” a GSBB official said, adding that they were creating awareness educating the local bodies on constituting the all-important committee.
The Goa State Biodiversity Board has also constituted eight technical support groups comprising experts from subject areas under the ambit of biodiversity to provide technical inputs to the biodiversity management committees and is responsible for documentation and preparation of the register.
As per the biodiversity act, the National Biodiversity Authority and the state biodiversity board are legally required to consult the BMCs before taking any decisions on use of local biological resources/knowledge.