State Government likely to approve 10-year Biodiversity Plan in May
| Date :30-Apr-2019 |
By Ramesh Marulkar:
The ten-year Maharashtra Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan submitted by Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board (MSBB) to the State Government in December last is under active consideration of the government and it is likely to give final sanction to it in May. The plan has been prepared by the board with the view of sustainable use of bio- resources and their protection and conservation in the future. Since all other allied departments like Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Fishery etc are involved in conservation of biodiversity, this strategic action plan elicits support of all these departments. The plan aims at bringing all the other departments concerned under one umbrella so that the conservation activity by them can be showcased on a common platform.
The Forest Department cannot alone undertake the task and hence it wants active co-operation from other departments using funds for protection/conservation to be channelised under this plan. These departments will also implement bio schemes. This was disclosed by A Ashraf, (ISF 1985 batch), Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Member-Secretary, MSBB, while talking to ‘The Hitavada’ here on Monday. He is retiring on Tuesday after putting in over 34 years of service. Ashraf further said, a State-level Co-ordination Committee has been formed under the presidentship of the Chief Secretary for monitoring the activities. Similarly, a Techno-Legal Advisory Committee has also been constituted for scrutinising proposals received from the users of bio-resources that will help improve Access & Benefit Sharing mechanism. After the amount received under this ABS mechanism, 95 per cent money will be given to the concerned Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) for protection and conservation of bio-resources, he added. MSBB has to form a total of 28,550 BMCs all over Maharashtra and out of that it has constituted such committees in 24,531rural places so far, the percentage being 86.
Theses committees are formed as Village Development Committees of the gram sabhas under Section 49 of Maharashtra Village Panchayat Act, 1958. Elected Sarpanch is the Chairman of the BMC while Gram sevak is its Member-Secretary. A BMC is custodian of biodiversity in its area and it makes planning for sustainable use of bio-resources, said Ashraf. Giving information about achievements of the board formed in 2012 with its HQ in Nagpur, he said that the board made sincere efforts to create awareness about Biodiversity Act. 2002, among the people as well among officers. The board wants to make it as a popular movement for sustainable use of bio-resources. The government has designated Deputy Conservators of Forest (Territorial) as Nodal Officers for implementation of the programmes.
They conducted workshops upto Range Forest Officer level in all forest circles, apart from conducting capacity-building workshops for BMC members. Moreover, the work of preparing People’s Biodiversity Registers is also in progress at various places, he added. The objectives of the Biodiversity Act are: Conservation of biodiversity, sustainable utilisation of bio-resources and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the commercial use of bio-resources.
It is implemented in three-tier system with National Biodiversity Authority with HQ at Chennai at national level, MSBB at state level and Biodiversity Management Committees at local level, Ashraf pointed out. Ashraf joined Forest Department in 1985 as a probationer at Alapalli and then held responsible posts like Deputy Conservator of Forest (winning Best DCF Award of the government), General Manager, Tribal Development Corporation, Conservator of Forest, Chief Conservator of Forest, Addl Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Chief General Manager, FDCM, and took over as PCCF in March last year.