‘Telangana to have Biodiversity Action Plan soon’

National Biodiversity Authority Secretary said there were many sites in the State that could be declared Biodiversity Heritage Sites.

Hyderabad: Telangana will have soon its own Biodiversity Action Plan shortly, according to National Biodiversity Authority Secretary J Justin Mohan.

In an interaction with S Sandeep Kumar, he also said there were many sites in the State that could be declared Biodiversity Heritage Sites.

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Q: What is a Telangana Biodiversity Plan

A: Every State needs to have its own action plan for Biodiversity conservation, which is called State Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (SBSAP). This is aligned with the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan. Nine States have prepared SBSAP’s and Telangana will have its SBSAP in a year. Next month the 15th COP meet is scheduled at Canada and post 2020 Global Biodiversity framework would be finalized. Telangana has the advantage of finalizing its SBSAP in accordance with Global Biodiversity framework and it is aimed at covering next 10 years.

Q: About Telangana’s biodiversity initiatives

A: Telangana has set up 14,341 Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) in all the local bodies, which is very impressive. They are responsible for biodiversity conservation in respective local bodies. They have also documented all the biological resource in the local body in the form of People’s Biodiversity Register, which aids in effective conservation using traditional knowledge.

Q: Funding to Telangana Biodiversity Board

A: Telangana is a high performing State. One best thing about Telangana is whatever fund is released to the Board, it gets utilized immediately. The fund is distributed to BMCs for effective conservation measures. All the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism due funds would be released shortly.

Q: On the Biodiversity Heritage Sites

A: Biodiversity Heritage Site is rich in biodiversity and outside forest jurisdiction. It may be due to bird population, medicinal plants and others. BMCs have to manage these sites and there are 33 sites in 13 States, Ameenpur Lake is declared as a Biodiversity Heritage Site in Telangana. There is lot of scope in Telangana to declare many sites as Biodiversity Heritage Sites. There are many benefits for the local community from the ecosystem point of view, besides tourism potential and more employment can be generated in the area.

Q: Does Biodiversity Heritage Site hamper growth

A: That is a myth and there is no legal hurdle. It is actually a legal recognition of that area as biodiversity heritage and that it needs to be protected to provide ecosystem.