The State Government of Bihar, vide its notification dated 9th December 2021 has published the Bihar Biological Diversity (Amendment) Rules, 2021 to further amend the Bihar Biological Diversity Rules 2017.
The Amendment is brought under rule 25 which deals with constitution of Biodiversity Management Committees in which the following sub-rule has been inserted:
25(1)(ka) on the expiry of tenure of the local bodies, the tenure of the Biodiversity Management Committees shall be extended till the tenure of the Advisory Committees, constituted by the Government for discharging the function of local bodies.
The Main function of Biodiversity Management Committee is to prepare People’s Biodiversity Register in consultation with the 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.
The other functions of the BMC are to advise on any matter referred to it by the State Biodiversity Board for granting approval, to maintain data about the local Vaidyas and practitioners using the biological resources.
