Why in the News?
The Karnataka government declared 8.6 acres of green cover at Cantonment Railway Colony in Bengaluru as a Biodiversity Heritage Site (BHS), the second such site in the city after Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra (GKVK).
About Biodiversity Heritage Sites (BHS):
- Legal Basis: Recognized under Section 37(1) of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 as ecologically sensitive areas of high biodiversity.
- Notifying Authority: The State Government, in consultation with local bodies, can declare an area as a BHS.
- Objective: Conserves wild and domesticated species, including rare, threatened, and keystone species, vital for ecological balance.
- Significance: Marked as ecologically fragile zones, essential for sustaining local ecosystems and long-term sustainability.
- Community Role: Local communities and institutions are actively involved in management and protection.
- Restrictions Put: Declaration does NOT restrict customary uses; aims to enhance quality of life through conservation.
- Institutional Support: State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) assist in proposing, managing, and monitoring BHS.
- First BHS in India: Nallur Tamarind Grove, Bengaluru, Karnataka, notified in 2007.
| [UPSC 2023] Consider the following statements:
1. In India, the Biodiversity Management Committees are key to the realization of the objectives of the Nagoya Protocol. 2. The Biodiversity Management Committees have important functions in determining access and benefit sharing, including the power to levy collection fees on the access of biological resources within its jurisdiction. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? Options: (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2* (d) Neither 1 nor 2 |
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