The Kochi Corporation is yet to wake up to the challenges of conserving and managing its biodiversity while most of the local bodies of the district have made significant strides in the sector.
Of the 96 local self-government institutions in the district, 80 have taken up the basic task of preparing the People’s Biodiversity Registry (PBR) in their respective areas. “It’s the primary responsibility of local bodies to prepare the PBR,” said C.G. Anantha Pai, district coordinator of the Kerala State Biodiversity Board.
All that the local body has done till last week was to constitute a Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC).
The Biological Diversity Act 2002 mandates that BMCs should be constituted in all local bodies for the sustainable use, conservation and management of biological resources. BMCs have a significant role to play to promote conservation, sustainable use, and documentation of biological diversity. They should document biological resources and knowledge related to those resources, according to the Act.
A BMC should have a chairperson, a member secretary and six members. The chairperson of the local body concerned should be the chairperson of the committee, and the secretary member secretary.
Of the six members, two should be women. and one should belong to the SC/ST category. All the six members should be permanent residents of the area concerned, and their names should be in the voters’ list, according to the provisions of the Act.
The nominated members should represent a “cross section of the society – herbalist, agriculturist, fishermen folk, academicians, community workers, non-timber forest produce collectors, traders, etc.,” a notification said.
PBRs have been prepared in more than 70 local bodies in the district.
Though a few meetings were convened in the Kochi Corporation for the preparation of the document, there was no progress, Mr. Pai said. While most of the panchayats and a few municipalities were keen on the preparation of the PBR and related works, no serious response came from the Kochi Corporation despite repeated reminders, he said.
Mr. Pai said the National Green Tribunal had issued an ultimatum to local bodies to prepare the documents within three months. “The civic authorities may be held responsible if they fail to comply with the directives of the tribunal,” he said.
The Kochi Corporation council meeting held on July 29 has cleared a proposal from the Development Standing Committee to constitute the BMC in the local body.
