People’s Biodiversity Register

In Context

• Kolkata has become the first major metropolitan city in India to make a detailed People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR).

About

• PBR contains comprehensive information on locally available Bio-resources including the landscape and demography of a particular area or village.
• The concept was defined in the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

Need

• The Forest Survey of India’s recent report had flagged the West Bengal Capital for the least greenery among all metro cities.
• The Biological Diversity Act 2002 has made it mandatory for every local self-governing institution in rural and urban areas to constitute Biodiversity Management Committees within their area of jurisdiction.
  • The key mandate of the BMC will be to ensure the conservation, sustainable utilization and equitable sharing of benefits from the biodiversity
  • BMC must prepare a PBR in consultation with local people.

Source: DTE