AP Bio Diversity

The term biological diversity – or biodiversity – is applied to the variety of life on earth and the natural patterns it forms. The biodiversity we see today is the fruit of billions of years of evolution, shaped by natural processes and increasingly by the influence of humans.

It forms the web of life of which we are an integral part and upon which we so fully depend. Biological diversity encompasses all species of plants, animals and micro-organisms and the variations between them, and the eco-systems of which they form a part. It occurs at three levels:

(i)  species level – refers to number and kinds of living or
(ii) genetic level – refers to genetic variation within a population of species, and
(iii) Eco-system level – refers to the variety of habitats, biological communities and ecological processes that occur in such habitats.

(i)  species level – refers to number and kinds of living or
(ii) genetic level – refers to genetic variation within a population of species, and
(iii) Eco-system level – refers to the variety of habitats, biological communities and ecological processes that occur in such habitats.

So far, about 1.75 million species have been identified, mostly small creatures such as insects. Scientists reckon that there are actually about 13 million species, though estimates range from 3 to 100 million India is one of the 12-mega biodiversity countries of the world. With only 2.4 per cent of the land area, India already accounts for 7-8 per cent of the recorded species of the world.
This number is based on the survey of 65 to 70 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. Over 47,000 species of plants and 81,000 species of animals have been recorded in the country so far by the Botanical Survey of India and the Zoological Survey of India respectively. India is an acknowledged centre of crop diversity, and harbours many wild relatives and breeds of domesticated animals.

National Biodiversity Authority (NBA)

This Authority will deal with all matters relating to requests for access by foreign individuals, institutions or companies, and all matters relating to transfer of results of research to any foreigner.

State Biodiversity Boards (SBB)

All matters relating to access by Indians for commercial purposes will be under the purview of the State Biodiversity Boards (SBB). The Indian industry will be required to provide prior intimation to the concerned SBB about the use of biological resource. The State Board will have the power to restrict any such activity, which violates the objectives of conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits.

Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC)

Act stipulates that ‘Every local body shall constitute a Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) within its area for the purpose of promoting conservation, sustainable use and documentation of biological diversity including preservation of habitats, conservation of land races, folk varieties and cultivars, domesticated stocks and breeds of animals and micro-organisms and chronicling of knowledge relating to biological diversity.’ The BMCs are authorized to regulate harvests of biodiversity resources within their jurisdiction, and to charge collection fees for this purpose. They will have at their disposal ‘Local Biodiversity Funds’ into which such income, as well as other grants will be deposited.

  • National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has been working in close collaboration with State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs), research/educational institutions, State Governments and civil society organizations to provide technical support for the constitution of BMCs and preparation of PBRs.
  • Despite inter-linkages between biodiversity, health, nutrition and livelihoods of dependent communities, PBRs have not yet been used for strengthening traditional understanding and practices related to health at the community level to mainstream them in developmental interventions.
  • This requires a comprehensive assessment of various contributing factors to health, nutrition and Livelihood including biological resources, knowledge and human resources, socio-cultural resources and related policy processes. It involves attention to medicinal plants and faunal products, dietary and nutritional aspects, and access to these resources, ecosystem integrity, landscape values, and rights to practitioner to practice, opportunities for livelihood enhancement among others.
  • While carrying out field activities with knowledgeable groups, individuals and officials for documenting accurate information about the natural resources with a focus on medicinal plants and their uses for health and livelihood of the local community. An attempt has also been made in this PBR to use the opportunity of secondary research to validate the community knowledge on medicinal plants and plants of economic importance, based on the rich textual references of Ayurveda to add value to the people’s knowledge about their biological resources.

            • Composition Of Study Team for the preparation of PBR

S.No

Name

Institute/Organization

Qualifications

   Role

1

Sri. S. Chandra Sekhar

Secretary, Balajyothi Rural Development Society  (BRDS)

M.S.W, M.Sc, B.Ed,

Team Leader

2

 

 

Sri M Mahendra

Dept.of Botany,

S.V.University, Tirupati

 M.Sc, M.Phill,

——

Ph D

Senior Research Fellow

3

Y Ram Mohan

Zoology Lecturer

Balayapalli

M.Sc, M.Phill

Scientific Advisor

4

Sri A. Kameswaraiah

School Assistant, Venkatagiri

M.Sc M.Ed

Scientific Advisor

5

Sri. V.S. Reddy

Secretary, PEACE, Madanapalli, Chittoor

M.A. Sociology

Team member

 

6

Sri. N.Ravikumar

Women Development Society,

Gurramkonda

B.A

Team member

7

Sri. M.Prathapkumar

DARE Society, Mulakalacheruvu

M.A. Sociology

Team Member

8

Sri. D.V.Ramanaiah

MOON Organization, Nellore

B.A

Team Member

Biodiversity Management Committee

1

Smt  T Jayalakshamma

Chairman

2

 Sri. B Yathendra Reddy

Secretary

3

Sri.  Sasi

Member

4

Sri  Venkataramana

Member

5

Smt K Subbamma

Member

6

Sri K  Nagavardhan

Member

7

Smt Rajeeyana

Member

Objectives of the PBR

The People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) seeks to document the knowledge of occurrence, practices of propagation, sustainable harvests and conservation, as well as economic uses of biodiversity resources that reside with India’s local communities. The objectives of the programme would thus embrace the creation of decentralized country wide databases on

  • A Status of biodiversity resources such as populations of medicinal plants, cultivars of fruit trees or freshwater fishes.
  • A Various factors such as harvests from natural populations, changes in agricultural practices or discharge of industrial effluents, affecting the biodiversity resources.
  • An Ongoing involvement of local communities /individuals in sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity resources, such as systems of regulated grazing on pastures, maintenance of varieties of fruit plants like jackfruit on farm bunds or protection of fish in sacred ponds.
  • A Local knowledge, widely shared and publicly disclosed, of properties and uses of biodiversity resources e.g. drought-resistance of a certain cultivar, methods of preservation of food or use of certain plants in treating human or livestock diseases. Local knowledge only partially disclosed; for instance, a claim that a particular medicine woman knows of a cure for asthma.
  • A Validate the information thus recorded for instance, through cross-checking with other published information sources.
  • A Create a network of decentralized databases, ultimately linking them to a consolidated national Data base which would give full credit to the origin of information at the level of an individual, a community or a village panchayat.
  • Feed pertinent information, such as volume of trade and prices of medicinal plants back to the local communities.

The methodology of PBR documentation involved

  1. Pre PBR visits
  2. Awareness meetings
  3. Identification of Technical Support Group member
  4. Training of field investigators
  5. Collection of data from Gram Panchayat, Health Centre, Agriculture, Forest and other Government Departments
  6. Consultation with BMC Members and Village leaders
  7. Liaison with line departments
  8. Consultations with Universities, Colleges and other Institution
  9. Identification of community health knowledge holders including healers
  10. Desk research for ayurveda assessment of medicinal plants
  11. Data compilation
  12. Transect walks for identification of flora
  13. Documentation from community health knowledge holders including healers during transect walks, focus group discussions and individual interviews
  14. Drafting of PBR in consultation with experts
  15. Focus Group Discussions for elucidating details on the linkages of biological components with nutritional, health and livelihood security and conservation concern
  16. Authentication of flora
  17. Approval by BMC, State Biodiversity Board

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