BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Friday released the ‘Local Biodiversity Fund Management Rules’ for biodiversity management committees (BMCs) at the panchayat level, enabling them to establish local biodiversity funds (LBFs) for conservation activities.
The rules were released by Forest Minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia during the state-level celebration of the International Day for Biological Diversity at Lok Seva Bhawan here. The theme of this year’s celebration was ‘Acting Locally for Global Impact.’
Addressing the gathering, Singhkhuntia said Odisha has emerged as one of the leading states in biodiversity conservation through initiatives such as tiger conservation, protection of elephant corridors, crocodile breeding programmes, Olive Ridley turtle conservation, mangrove restoration, community-based forest protection and forest fire early warning systems. He described the state’s approach as a ‘people-centric conservation model’.
During the event, eight persons received the ‘Guardians of Biodiversity’ award, while two others were honoured with the ‘Champions of Biodiversity’ award for their contributions to conservation. The state has around 7,256 BMCs at panchayat level for conservation, monitoring, sustainable use and documentation of biological diversity at the grassroots level. The state government has also made provision of providing them a fund support of Rs 35,000 for the purpose.
However, an official from the Odisha Biodiversity Board told TNIE that in the absence of any rules or guidelines, the BMCs had not been able to form the LBFs. Further, only around 400 BMCs have received the fund support from the government. With the new LBF management rules being issued, the local biodiversity committees will now be able to set up their funds and receive grants, he said.
According to the Biological Diversity Rules, 2024, the LBF will be established at the local body level and utilised for biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of biological resources and related developmental activities. The State Biodiversity Board may provide grants or loans received from the state government, central government or other authorities to local bodies for activities under the Act.
The rules released by the state government on the day also allows BMCs to generate resources independently. Committees can collect fees or charges from individuals or organisations accessing local biological resources for commercial purposes and deposit the amount into the LBF. Funds may also be mobilised through grants, loans or contributions from other approved sources identified by the local body or the Board.
Four publications were also unveiled during the meeting. A People’s Biodiversity Registrar (PBR) manual was also released in Odia.