Agartala, Oct3 (TIWN): Biodiversity management committees have been constituted in 100 villages for conserving the biodiversity of Tripura, said Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) and Chief Wildlife Warden (CWW) Dr. A K Gupta here on Thursday to TIWN.

     He informed that, Forest Minister Jitendra Choudhury is giving special emphasis for engaging the rural community, the first stake holder, so that the local people are engaged in scientific conservation, cultivation and commercial production of medicinal plants while conserving the biodiversity.

     Dr. Gupta said that each committee will be headed by the chairman of the village, having the power to act against bio – piracy. “Tripura has a pivotal role to play with its vast medicinal plant resources whose global demand has been rising across the world,” he pointed out.                          

       He stated that ranging from the variety of plant and animal species and their uses as medicines to traditional farming in sync with the indigenous requirements, communities used to posses a wealth of knowledge about their environment.

       According to Dr. Gupta,”Traditional concept of environment was a balanced concept of proper use with conservation. Both biodiversity and ecosystem of north east India, recognized as the world’s biodiversity hotspot and home to rarest species, is currently under serious threat from anthropogenic activities.”                         

        He informed that there are many aspects of the initiatives by international communities and the states to arrive at treaties like the Convention of Biological Diversity( 1993), from which India’s own Biological Diversity Act (2002) draw its mandate. These frameworks were overtly developed to conserve biological resources for their intrinsic values.