Forest Development Corporation staff trained on Biodiversity Act

27 Nov, 2018

A workshop was organised by the Uttarakhand Biodiversity Board (UBB) and Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) project, GIZ, in Niranjanpur (Dehradun, Uttarakhand) on 27th November 2018. The event was organised to generate awareness amongst the staff of Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation (FDC), an important stakeholder in the process, to train them as resource persons and FDC as a resource institution on the Biodiversity (BD) Act and ABS in the state. (UBB and GIZ are implementing a collaborative project on ABS in Uttarakhand.)

In his inaugural address as chief guest, Mr. Gambhir Singh, Managing Director of Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation, said that the “implementation of Biodiversity Act 2002 is a mission for the state. Conservation of biodiversity is of utmost important for the survival of humans”. During the workshop Mr. S.S Rasaily, Member Secretary UBB, spoke about the origin and provisions of the BD Act 2002. He explained the ABS mechanism and the benefits given to the community through Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs), which are being formed by UBB. According to him 8,000 BMCs have been proposed in the state out of which nearly 1000 BMCs have been almost formed. GIZ is working with a few BMCs in Almora and Pithoragarh, with trade of Bioresources and ABS mechanism. A leaflet on Diploknema butyrecea (Chuyra) was inaugurated at the event, as an outcome of the project.

The participants at the workshop were informed about the BD Act using hands-on methods. Overall discussions paved way for the development of FDC as a resource institution for the implementation of ABS mechanism. Regional level traders’ meeting facilitation was also seen as an option to be explored by the corporation.

The workshop participants included members from Tanakpur Ramnagar Haldwani, Dehradun and Haridwar Rishikesh depot of FDC. Mr. Mahesh Chandra Arya, Mr. Krishan Kumar Upadyaya, Mr. HS Adhikari, Mr. Mohd Hanif, Mr. Rajesh Nautiyal, Mr. BS Rana, Mr. M S Kapruwan from FDC were also present on this occasion. The workshop was conducted by Mr. Anil Joshi, Dr. Pradeep Mehta (Technical Experts, GIZ), Mr. Dinesh Chandra and Mr. P Gautam.

A similar workshop has been proposed for the traders of bioresources in the state on 28th of Nov ember 2018.