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Ecology is for the People: A Methodology Manual for People’s Biodiversity Register Madhav Gadgil Centre for Ecological Sciences Indian Institute of Science Bangalore 560012, India & Agharkar Research Institute Agarkar Road, Pune 411004, [email protected] http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/hpg/cesmg/ in collaboration with K.P.Achar, Harish Bhat, P.R. Bhat, Shubhada Deshmukh, Ajay Dolke, Yogini Dolke, N. Vijay Edlabadkar, A.K. Ghosh, Satish Gogulwar, Yogesh Gokhale, Shrikanth Gunaga, B.V. Gundappa, Nilesh Heda, Mohan H. Hiralal, N. Indiramma, Kailash C. Malhotra, M.B.Naik, M.P.Nair, N.H.Ravindranath, G. Nalini Rekha, Kaustubh Pandharipande, S.G.Patgar, Ramakrishnappa, P.R. Seshagiri Rao, V.V. Sivan, S. Srinidhi, S. Sujith, K.A. Subramanian, Devaji Tofa, C. Yathiraju National Workshop on People’s Biodiversity Register 22-23 June 2006 Chennai CONTENTS 1 PREFACE ..................................................................................................................................... 1 2 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 3 3 BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY ACT.............................................................................................. 5 4 FUNCTIONS OF PEOPLE’S BIODIVERSITY REGISTERS................................................ 6 5 BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION SYSTEM......................................................................... 16 6 PBR PROCESS........................................................................................................................... 28 7 SPREADING AWARENESS .................................................................................................... 31 8 PEOPLE’S CONCERNS ........................................................................................................... 33 9 INDIVIDUAL BIODIVERSITY PROJECTS ......................................................................... 35 10 DEPLOYING STUDENT POWER ...................................................................................... 36 11 MANAGING THE INFORMATION ................................................................................... 39 12 THEMES AND METHODS .................................................................................................. 55 13 PEOPLESCAPE ..................................................................................................................... 70 14 MAPPING THE LANDSCAPE ............................................................................................ 86 15 SKETCHING THE LIFESCAPE ......................................................................................... 93 16 SETTING OF THE STUDY SITE...................................................................................... 102 17 FOCAL ISSUES ................................................................................................................... 103 18 LANDSCAPE TYPES AND SUB-TYPES.......................................................................... 106 19 FOCAL ELEMENTS OF LANDSCAPE/ WATERSCAPE ............................................. 117 20 FOCAL LIFE FORMS ........................................................................................................ 126 21 KNOWLEDGE ..................................................................................................................... 130 22 MANAGEMENT.................................................................................................................. 134 23 NATIONAL LEVEL SUPPORT......................................................................................... 147 24 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................. 149 25 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................... 150 26 APPENDIX 1: POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS OF INFORMATION COLLECTED THROUGH THE PBR PROCESS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY MEMBERS .................................................................................................................... 151 27 APPENDIX 2: PRINCIPLES OF THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH ADOPTED BY CBD 156 i 28 APPENDIX 3: SALIENT FEATURES OF MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE HOLDERS OF MALA GRAM PANCHAYAT, KARKALA TALUK, UDUPI DISTRICT, KARNATAKA AND THE NATIONAL INNOVATION FOUNDATION......................................................................................................................................... 157 29 APPENDIX 4: BIODIVERSITY RELATED TOPICS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION PROJECTS FOR PRIMARY, HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE STUDENTS THAT WILL SUPPORT PBR ACTIVITIES........................................................................................ 161 30 ANNEXURE: SCREEN SHOTS OF PBR DATA ENTRY FORMS............................... 179 ii Preface 1 Preface onserving, using sustainably and sharing equitably in the benefits flowing from biodiversity resources have emerged as vital concerns C in recent decades. This has prompted a number of international as well as national initiatives. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in force since 1993, is the most significant of the pertinent international agreements. India is one of the 170-odd nations that are a party to the CBD. As a follow-up to this Convention, India enacted the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, which received the assent of the President on the 5th February 2003. The rules promulgated under this Act, in force as of 15th April 2004, include the following provisions: 22. Constitution of Biodiversity Management Committees (1) Every local body (i.e. Panchayat, Municipality etc.) shall constitute a Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) within its area of jurisdiction. (6) The main function of the BMC is to prepare People’s Biodiversity Register in consultation with local people. The Register shall contain comprehensive information on availability and knowledge of local biological resources, their medicinal or any other use or any other traditional knowledge associated with them. (7) The other functions of the BMC are to advise on any matter referred to it by the State Biodiversity Board or Authority for granting approval, and to maintain data about the local vaids and practitioners using the biological resources. (8) The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) shall take steps to specify the form of the People’s Biodiversity Registers, and the particulars it shall contain and the format for electronic database. (9) The NBA and the State Biodiversity Boards shall provide guidance and technical support to the Biodiversity Management Committees for preparing People’s Biodiversity Registers. (10) The People’s Biodiversity Registers shall be maintained and validated by the Biodiversity Management Committees. The Committee shall also maintain Register giving information about the details of the access to biological resources and traditional knowledge granted, details of the collection fee imposed and details of the benefits derived and the mode of their sharing. Thus, all local bodies in the country, Gram, Taluk, and Zilla Panchayats, Town Municipalities and City Corporations would have the responsibility of documenting: 1 Preface Comprehensive information on availability and knowledge of local biological resources, their medicinal or any other use or any other traditional knowledge associated with them; Data about the local vaids and practitioners using the biological resources; Details of the access to biological resources and traditional knowledge granted, details of the collection fee imposed and details of the benefits derived and the mode of their sharing. The rules stipulate that the National Biodiversity Authority shall take steps to specify the form of the People’s Biodiversity Registers, and the particulars it shall contain and the format for electronic database; and that the National Biodiversity Authority and the State Biodiversity Boards shall provide guidance and technical support to the Biodiversity Management Committees for preparing People’s Biodiversity Registers. Preparation of the People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBR) is a novel activity that will involve people at the grass roots in a scientific enterprise. The Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) at the Indian Institute of Science, a Center of Excellence of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, has had the privilege of being extensively involved in the formulation of this programme. At the instance of the Ministry, CES has conducted pilot exercises of preparation of PBRs in a number of Gram Panchayats in the states of Karnataka and Maharashtra. Furthermore, CES was asked to conduct five Regional Workshops at Bangalore, Pune, Delhi, Bhuvaneshwar and Guwahati during 2003 to discuss the methodology of PBR preparation with a range of stake-holders including technical experts from Universities, research institutions, Botanical and Zoological Surveys, Forest and other Government Departments, school and college teachers, workers from NGOs, and members and office-bearers from Panchayat bodies. These five Workshops, each lasting 3 days, and involving a total of around 500 people, provided an outstanding opportunity to discuss all pertinent issues in depth and obtain very substantive feedback. Assimilating all this experience, CES has attempted to formulate an appropriate methodology and design a database. This Manual presents the relevant material. It is hoped that this will

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