Locals Nurturing Biodiversity will soon benefit from its trade

25th May, 2018

THANE : In an attempt to ensure that the local denizens of every region, who are responsible for the conservation of the natural resources in their area, are economically benefited from the sale of these resources, the forest department has started crafting biodiversity registers in each taluka.

From various medicinal or floral plants and herb species to the plethora of wild animals, reptiles, insects, birds and domesticated animals, every pocket of Thane district is home to a diverse treasure of biological resources, of which, many are rare.

While some of the these resources have been used by companies for commercial purposes over the years, the Maharashtra state biodiversity board (MSBB) starting setting up biodiversity management committees across every taluka in the state to oversee these sale activities.

“The officials in the board felt that if the resources from these areas were being used for gaining economic profits, the locals who tend to and nurture these resources should also get a share of this profit, thus making it a sustaining model. To keep a check on appropriate use of bio resources and set the base for an access and benefit sharing (model), we started with setting up these committees,” said Ajay Pillarisett, retired assistant conservator of forests and active member of the Thane MSBB.

“While we have set up around 430 such biodiversity management committees in Thane’s gram panchayat area, we are in the process of setting up many more in the panchayat samitis and zilla parishad areas as well in the coming months,” he added.

“After the register is ready, the companies that require these resources for medicine or Ayurveda or any commercial reason will have to approach the committee for approval for its trade. If approved, they will have to share a percent of their profits with the locals of the region, which will help them in their livelihood,” he added.

 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com