Workshop on Biodiversity Act and ABS for Traders of Bioresources of Uttarakhand

28 Nov, 2018

A workshop was organised by the Uttarakhand Biodiversity Board (UBB) and GIZ for bioresource traders of Uttarakhand on the Biodiversity (BD) Act 2002 and Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) at Dehradun on 28th November 2018. According to Mr. S.S. Rasaily, Member Secretary, UBB, the “Biodiversity Act 2002 is the first act which gives the right to the local communities. The main objective of the workshop is to systematise and legalise the trade of bioresource in the state.”

During his inaugural address, Dr. D.P. Uniyal, Senior Scientific Officer of Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology and special guest for the programme, said that “it’s important to understand the legal compliance of the act. Intellectual Property Right and patent are important when it comes to biodiversity conservation and access and benefit sharing.”

Traders from different parts of Uttarakhand like Haldwani, Uttarkashi, Dehradun, Tehri, Rishikesh, and Vikash Nagar, participted in the workshop. They discussed the main issues during the cultivation and marketing of medicinal and aromatic (MAP) plants. Different issues like marketing, lack of infrastructure, registration process, lack of awareness and technology, standardisation of prices, lack of standards, non-recognition of MAP as crops and no crop insurance of MAP were discussed.

The participants were briefed about the provisions of ABS for traders (small traders are currently not included as part of the ABS). After two brainstorming sessions with the traders, the following outcomes were agreed upon: documentation and publication of farmer list (district and species wise); species samples at forest check post for easy identification; state level meeting of important stakeholders; two regional meeting of traders; documentation of issues related to MAP trade; and standardisation of scientific standards (contents in medicinal plants on the basis of which they are priced in the market) in the trade of Bioresources.

Mr. Anil Joshi and Dr. Pradeep Mehta (GIZ, Technical Experts) facilitated the discussions. Mr. L.M. Kaul, Dr. R.P. Kala, Dr. Dinesh Chandra, Dr. Satish Semwal, Mr. P.N. Gautam from UBB and Dr. J.S. Butola, Mr. Swarn Singh, Arjun Singh, Mr. Ashutosh Pokhariyal, Mr. Raghubir Singh Rawat, and Mr. Bhuwan Murari, traders from different parts of the state, participated in the workshop.