Mumbai set to establish its first biodiversity management committee for preservation and conservation

In order to perverse biodiversity in the city, Mumbai’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has given a go-ahead for setting up the first Biodiversity Management Committee. As the proposal was cleared, a 23-member committee will be formed which will be headed by a joint municipal commissioner. According to a report by The Indian Express, Mayor Kishori Pednekar gave formal approval to formulate the committee during a General Body meeting on December 1. Pednekar also announced that five environmentalists as well experts will also be a part of 23 members chosen for the Biodiversity Management Committee.

It is to note that the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court in 2016 had directed the state government to form this committee under the urban bodies. According to BMC officials, the process initiated in 2017 only but it took a lot of time to finalise the names of experts for the committee. This year, no general body meeting took place in the last seven months and the process was delayed further.

Meanwhile, an official from the Garden department highlighted that the civic body has reached a point where it could face a risk of getting fined as it failed to comply with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order. NGT had issued an order on March 18 this year and said that failure in compliance with Biodiversity Act will lead to a penalty of Rs 10 lakh every month.

As the proposal for the committee has been approved, a people’s biodiversity register will be made that will have comprehensive information on availability as well as knowledge of local biological resources. Along with this, information on their medicinal use, benefits along with traditional knowledge related to them will also be provided.

Among the members, there will be seven corporators and eight civic officials from various departments. There will also be two special invitees (MP and MLA), five experts, and a member secretary who will act as garden superintendent. Five experts whom names were cleared are Dr Deepak Apte, ornithologist, Subhas Patne, horticulturist, Mahesh Palkar, education officer, Mayur Kamat, wildlife warden, and Jitendra Ramgaonkar, field director of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve.

Experts are of belief that Mumbai has a lot of biodiversity that remains unnoticed and undocumented. Further, the committee will prepare a record of biodiversity and will take necessary measures for preservation and conservation.