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Community Training on the Biological Diversity Act, First-ever in Bihar, Conducted in Done Valley, Valmiki Tiger Reserve
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Done Valley, Bihar, July 12, 2016: For the women of nine villages in Done Valley, Valmiki Tiger Reserve, it was a completely different perspective on the living things they see around them every day. The women – about 150 of them, from the villages of Naurangia, Majuraha, Lakshiminiya Tola, Singhrahwa, Gardi, Khairahni, Matiarwa Tola, Kamarchhinwa and Piprahwa Tola – were participants in a training programme on local biodiversity and the Biological Diversity Act of 2002, organised from June 27 to 29 by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) in partnership with the management of Valmiki Tiger Reserve.
A participant receives her certificate at the end of the training programme
Local students and frontline staff of the tiger reserve also attended the programme, which was funded by the National Biodiversity Authority, Chennai. Experts from the Department of Natural Resources, TERI University, Delhi, highlighted the importance and value of wild as well as cultivated and domesticated biodiversity. The training was conducted in three batches in the villages of Done Valley, so that participants could document the plant biodiversity around them during the field exercises. “They learned how to document the plants collected on their transect walks and prepare a herbarium of the collected plants”, said Sudipta Chatterjee, lead trainer and Associate Professor, TERI University.
The Biological Diversity Act aims to promote the conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits of biological resources, and mandates the preparation of People’s Biodiversity Registers. “Since wild as well as agricultural biodiversity is intertwined with the socio-economic and cultural practices of communities living in Done Valley, we felt it was important that they be taught various aspects of the act”, said Samir Kumar Sinha, who heads WTI’s Valmiki Conservation Project. “Villagers depend on the local biodiversity for their livelihood and sustenance and it is their responsibility to conserve these resources for coming generations”, added Kaushik Deb, the WTI point person who works directly with the communities in Done Valley.
This was the first training of its kind in Bihar where women and other community members were exposed to the provisions of the Biological Diversity Act. Hemant Patil, an IFS officer on probation in Valmiki TR distributed certificates to the participants on their successful completion of the training.
