TN in NBA’s pilot Electronic People’s Biodiversity Registry preparation
B Balaji, secretary of National Biodiversity Authority, said that the Electronic PBR are being prepared for 12 states in the country, including Tamil Nadu and Kerala on a pilot basis.
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CHENNAI: Villages may get additional income as the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has decided to prepare the Electronic People’s Biodiversity Registry (PBR) so that natural resources available in those villages could be easily accessed by industries.
B Balaji, secretary of National Biodiversity Authority - Chennai, said that the Electronic People’s Biodiversity Registries are being prepared for 12 states in the country, including Tamil Nadu and Kerala on a pilot basis.
“Already collected details in the People’s Biodiversity Registries will be uploaded on the website. These details can be accessed by the industries and they can utilise the resources by paying money. This way, Biodiversity Management Committees and the village panchayats could earn more revenue,” he explained.
The NBA has constituted Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC) in all village panchayats to prepare PBRs to document details on locally available bio-resources, as well as the geography and demographics of a particular area or village.
If the genetic resources of any village, like medicinal plants, is utilised commercially, the industry concerned should share the revenue with the BMC under Access and Benefit Sharing provisions of Biological Diversity Rules. However, industries should get approval from the BMCs to utilise the resources. Balaji added that the Authority is planning to prepare the People’s Biodiversity Registries and Electronic People’s Biodiversity Registries simultaneously in future. “The exercise requires a huge investment. Based on the pilot in 12 states, Electronic People’s Biodiversity Registries will be extended to other states also,” he said.
Close to 7,000 village panchayats in the country are yet to have BMC. This is due to issues in finalising the boundaries of the village panchayats. Steps have been taken to form the remaining BMCs, Balaji added.
Meanwhile, the National Biodiversity Authority has earned Rs 200 crore through access and benefit sharing system and Rs 60.50 crore has been distributed to BMCs as well as to some state governments to carry out conservation measures. As many as 10,318 BMCs across the country have received Rs 21.50 crore.
A recent RTI data revealed that of 26 villages that provided information in TN, as many as 11 do not have BMCs.