Pune Municipal Corporation to form biodiversity management committee

PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) plans to constitute a biodiversity management committee to promote conservation, sustainable use and documentation of biological diversity, as per the Biological Diversity Act 2002.
PMC's environment department along with other institutions and organisations has already started to collect data on various aspects of biodiversity for preparing a people's biodiversity register (PBR).
As per the Biological Diversity Act 2002, local bodies have to constitute a biodiversity management committee within their areas of jurisdiction. The idea is to look into conservation of biodiversity, including preservation of habitats, conservation of land races, folk varieties and cultivars, domesticated stocks and breeds of animals, micro-organisms and chronicling of knowledge relating to biological diversity. The committee consists of a chairperson and six people nominated by local bodies.
Mangesh Dighe, environment officer, PMC, told TOI that the civic body has already started collecting data on biodiversity and traditional knowledge from institutes, researchers, individuals and people working in the field. "There are a lot of studies on our biological resources. We have to gather them for documentation and come up with a PBR," he said.
"The setting up of a biodiversity management committee is also in the pipeline. We have gathered information on the same at the recently held Conference of Parties to the convention on biological diversity in Hyderabad. We will soon have a meeting with Erach Bharucha, chairman, Maharashtra Biodiversity Board, regarding the same," he said.
The function of biodiversity management committee is to prepare, maintain and validate a PBR in consultation with the local people. This committee should maintain a register giving information about the details of biological resources and traditional knowledge available within the jurisdiction of the committee.
Bharucha told TOI that the board will ensure that the Biological Diversity Act 2002 is implemented in the state. The board will facilitate recognition and constitute local biodiversity management committees for promoting conservation through relevant local self-government bodies like gram panchayats and municipal corporations. They will develop and maintain PBRs, he added.
He said the board plans to set up a few expert groups to look into biodiversity. "The idea is to focus on sustainable use of biodiversity outside national parks and sanctuaries. For example, medicinal plants should not be over exploited and we have to control its use," Bharucha said.
* The biodiversity management committee will play a vital role in documenting biodiversity, their sustainable use and in dealing with access and benefit sharing issues
* The people's biodiversity register gives information about the details of biological resources and traditional knowledge available within the jurisdiction of the committee