Bio-Diversity Board on the anvil

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, AUG. 26. The State Government will soon set up a "Karnataka Bio-Diversity Board" to evolve programmes for conservation of bio-diversity.

The Minister for Forests, Mr. K.H.Ranganath, told presspersons here today that eminent conservationists, environmentalists and experts would be made members of the board which would advise the Government on matters relating to conservation of bio-diversity. The board would also help evolve a Karnataka Bio-Diversity Information System (KBDIS), he added.

The decisions were taken at a meeting of experts held today under the chairmanship of Mr. Ranganath and attended by the Minister of State for Information and Publicity, Prof. B.K.Chandrasekhar, the Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Board, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, and vice-chancellors of universities. Senior officials in various Government departments and experts in the field of bio-diversity also attended the meeting. The meeting discussed the recommendations made by the sub-group on bio-diversity of the Karnataka State Planning Board and the draft Bio-Diversity Bill introduced in Parliament recently.

Mr. Ranganath said that a committee had been formed to examine the provisions of the "Biological Bill-2000" introduced in Parliament recently. Prof. Chandrasekhar, Mr. Jairam Ramesh and experts from the National Law School were members. The committee would meet soon and submit its recommendations within three weeks, he added.

He said the State Government had requested the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, entrusted with the task of examining the Bill, to visit Bangalore and hold discussions with the experts here.

Mr. Ranganath said Karnataka was the second State to set up a bio-diversity board. The proposed KBDIS was a unique system which would help build an exhaustive database and inventory on flora and fauna. According to a preliminary estimate, it was possible to catalogue about 6,000 species of flora and fauna mainly in the Western Ghats region of the State. There was a variety of flora and fauna in the coastal areas and on the northern plains of Gulbarga and Belgaum Divisions, and those would also be catalogued, he added.

He said universities, research institutions, Government departments and the panchayat raj institutions would be involved in the process of cataloguing.

In order to widen the scope of the work, zilla and gram panchayats would also be entrusted with the task of listing rare species of flora and fauna in their regions. A "Community Bio- Diversity Register" would be developed and maintained locally. This would help in documenting and monitoring local Bio-Diversity resources, he added.

He said 85 per cent of bio-diversity resources were in the forests, and the Forest Department had been playing a major role in the development of BDIS and its conservation. The department was playing a major role in implementing Central and State legislation on bio-diversity conservation through the Joint Forest Produce Management (JFPM) and the Village Forest Committees.

Replying to a question, Mr. Ranagnath said that the Chairman of the State Pollution Control Board would continue in office.

He said the Himalayan Drug Company had come forward to establish a herbal medicine industry in the State.

Prof. Chandrasekhar, who was present at the press conference, said rules were being framed under the Right to Information Bill, and the Chief Minister, Mr. S.M.Krishna, and Mr. Jairam Ramesh were evincing keen interest.

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Section  : Southern States
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