Tamil Nadu's Biodiversity Loss

Chennai

Tamil Nadu continues to lag behind in management of biodiversity, with the formation of biodiversity management committees (BMCs) failing to gain steam since the Biological Diversity Act 2002 came into force about a decade ago, leading to the exploitation of natural resources without any thought for conservation.

Till date, the state has only 19 BMCs, which makes it an uphill task of setting up BMCs at every village, block level and district level, as mandated by the Biological Diversity Act. 

Statistics from National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) reveal that Kerala has 1,043 panels of BMC whereas Karnataka has 4,363 and Andhra Pradesh, 928.  Even the recently carved out state of Telengana has  set up 710 BMCs. Karnataka has even declared four biodiversity heritage sites. 

As per the guidelines issued under the Act, the process of BMC formation would involve all the stakeholders in the gram sabha including tribals and other marginalised communities to ensure an effective consultative process . 

“The absence of BMCs deprives the local communities of their rightful share enshrined under the Act, and accords undue privileges to private players, who exploit the resources without any accountability. The very idea of BMC is to create access and benefit sharing in the local community.  The Act also mandates that only the elected local body can form the BMCs. Also, in Tamil Nadu, election to the civic bodies which completed their term last year have not been held due to various reasons, including litigation and the implementation of reservation for women members in civic bodies”, a source from NBA observed. 

“Under the Act, BMCs would have to prepare People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) besides participating and ensuring conservation and sustainable utilisation of biological resources. BMCs would be entrusted with the management of heritage sites including heritage trees, animals/micro-organisms etc., and the ‘sacred groves’ and ‘sacred water bodies’, besides regulation of access to the biological resources associated with traditional knowledge, for commercial and research purposes”, the official said.

The official also pointed out that any further delay in formation of the BMCs would only endanger the biodiversity in the state. The conservation of  biodiversity is on a par with Sikkim which has only 13 panels of BMCs and Nagaland which has 10. Madhya Pradesh tops the chart with the formation of as many as 23,743 units of BMCs.

When asked about the inordinate delay in the formation of the BMCs, Forest Minister Dindigul C Sreenivasan said that they were already seized of the matter, and are taking adequate measures to increase the number of BMCs in the state. “It has to be formed in every local body, and it will be formed. We could not do it due to the delay in the election to the local bodies. We reviewed the development in this regard last month”, he said. “Three more BMCs have been formed since the review meeting held last month. We have instructed the District Collectors to give thrust to form BMCs. Once the elections to the local bodies are complete, we would further expedite the process of forming BMCs to benefit the local populace,” he added.

GOOD EARTH 

• Tamil Nadu is rich  in biodiversity

• With an area of 1,30,058 sq km, the state accounts for about four per cent of the country’s total area

• Nearly one-third of the total flora in India is found in TN, its species and genetic diversity richer than neighbouring states

• 307.85 sq km or 1. 36 per cent of total forest area of the state has been brought under National Parks

• 2,602.07 sq km of the state declared as wildlife sanctuaries

• TN has two biosphere reserves in The Nilgris and in the Gulf of Mannar

Rich role

BMCs promote  conservation, sustainable  use and documentation of biological diversity, including preservation of habitats, conservation of landraces, folk varieties and cultivars, domesticated stock and breeds of animals and micro-organisms and chronicling of knowledge relating to biological diversity

Meetings

BMC shall hold a minimum  of 4 meetings in a year, and  meet once at least in every 3 months. The meetings shall be chaired by the Chairperson of  the BMC, and in his/her absence, by any other member elected by the members present. The quorum at every meeting shall be three including the chairperson and excluding official members.

Funds

Village-level BMC would get a star-tup fund of Rs 60,000, while the block-level BMC would get Rs 80,000 and district-level unit would receive Rs 1,00,000. The funds earmarked would be spent for  opening of bank account, purchase of office  equipment including  stationary, meetings, and formation  of BMC

Responsibility

To prepare, maintain and validate People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) in consultation with the local people. It should give  information about the details of biological resources and traditional knowledge. Advice on  any matter referred to it by the  Biodiversity Board or Authority  for granting approval, to  maintain data about local vaids using biological resources

Loss makers

• Fires which affect regeneration are a major reason for biodiversity loss

• Biodiversity loss in the state caused by habitat destruction, overexploitation, pollution and species introduction

• Natural calamities such as droughts, diseases, cyclones and floods impact biodiversity

• Uncontrolled commercial exploitation of natural resources, major threat to biodiversity in the state

• Habitat destruction, such as destruction of forests, reclamation of wetlands are other threats to biodiveristy

• Adhoc increase of high input agriculture is another factor in such loss

• Destruction of rich coastal areas

Reality check

Report card on status of BMCs in various states. Tamil Nadu has a meagre 19

Andhra Pradesh928

Arunachal Pradesh 43

Assam        171

Bihar—

Chatttisgarh27

Goa54

Gujarat:3405

Himachal Pradesh  155

Haryana—

Jharkhand66

Jammu & Kashmir  —

Karnataka4,636

Kerala1,043

Madhya Pradesh23,743

Maharashtra890

Manipur52

Meghalaya94

Mizoram221

Nagaland10

Odisha230

Rajasthan31

Punjab55

Sikkim13

Tamil Nadu19

Telangana710

Tripura217

Uttar Pradesh32

Uttarkhand751

West Bengal176

Total       37,769

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