Section 23 in Rajasthan Biological Diversity Rules, 2010
23. Constitution of Biodiversity Management Committees.
(1)Every local body shall constitute a Biodiversity Management Committee within its area of jurisdiction.(2)If the local body is satisfied that the function of the Biodiversity Management committee can be discharged by the general assembly of the local body, or by one of its existing committees, the same should be recorded as resolution passed by such local body, following due procedure.(3)The Biodiversity Management Committees constituted under sub-rule (1) shall have seven persons nominated by the local body, of whom not less than one third shall be women. Seven local knowledgeable persons being so nominated should be drawn from amongst the herbalists, agriculturists, foresters, Non Timber Forest Produce collectors/traders, fisher-folk, representatives of user associations, community workers, academicians and any person/representative of organization, on whom the local body trusts that he can significantly contribute to the Biodiversity Management Committee. The proportion of members belonging to the Scheduled Caste and the Schedule Tribe should not be less than Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe percentage of the District, where such a Committee is set up. All the persons nominated should be residents of the area of local body and must be voters of such local body.(4)The local body shall nominate six special invitees from forest, agriculture, livestock, health, fisheries and education department.(5)The Chairperson of the Biodiversity Management Committee shall be elected from amongst the members of the committee in a meeting to be presided over the Chairperson of the local body. The Chairperson of the local body shall have casting vote in case of a tie.(6)The Chairperson of the Biodiversity Management Committee shall have tenure of three years.(7)The local Member of the Legislative Assembly and Member of Parliament would be special invitees to the meetings of the Biodiversity Management Committee at different levels.(8)A technical support group comprising of experts in the field of biodiversity drawn from Government agencies, Non Government Organization, academic field, community and individuals shall be established by District administration. The expert group shall lend support to Biodiversity Management Committee at different levels.(9)The key mandate of the Biodiversity Management Committees shall be to ensure conservation, sustainable utilization and equitable sharing of benefits from the biodiversity. The Biodiversity Management Committees shall facilitate preparation of People's Biodiversity Registers. The Register shall contain comprehensive information on availability and knowledge of local biological resources, their medical or any other use or any other traditional knowledge associated with them. The Zila Parishad Biodiversity Management Committee shall be responsible for developing a district wide network of People's Biodiversity Registers database. The People's Biodiversity Registers shall be prepared at the Gram Panchayat/Municipality/Municipal Council/Municipal Corporation Biodiversity Management Committee level by using the process and the format set by the Board. The Biodiversity Management Committees and local bodies shall be responsible for ensuring the protection of the knowledge recorded of the People's Biodiversity Registers, especially to regulate its access to outside agencies and individuals(10)The Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti Biodiversity Management Committees shall strive to mainstream biodiversity conservation concerns in the development planning at the local level.(11)The Board shall provide guidance and technical support to the Biodiversity Management Committees for preparing People's Biodiversity Registers, and shall ensure that all information recorded in such Register receives legal protection against misuse and appropriation by outside agencies and individuals.(12)The committee shall also maintain a Register giving information about the details of the access to biological resources and traditional knowledge granted, details of the collection fee imposed and details of the benefits derived and the mode of their sharing.(13)The Biodiversity Management Committees at Gram Panchayat/Municipality/Municipal Council/Municipal Corporation level may decide the terms on which it would permit access to biodiversity resources and associated knowledge to different parties for various purposes within their jurisdiction and levy charges by way of collection fees from any person for accessing or collecting any biological resource for commercial purpose from the area falling within its jurisdiction. The major share of levy charged for the material collection/cultivated from private land should be given to the owner/cultivator of the land/knowledge holders and the balance should be deposited in Local Biodiversity Fund of Biodiversity Management Committee. The levy charged for the material collected/cultivated from Government land should be totally deposited in Local Biodiversity Fund of Biodiversity Management Committee.(14)The Board shall provide guidelines for terms of access and fee collection by the Biodiversity Management Committees.(15)The Gram Panchayat/Municipality/Municipal Council/Municipal Corporation level Biodiversity Management Committees shall prepare a Biodiversity Management Plan using output from People's Biodiversity Register and shall be responsible for or participate in its implementation.(16)The local bodies shall ensure that the Biodiversity Management Committees are integrated with the functioning of existing local institutions by cross-membership, coordination meetings, and other such measure as determined by the local bodies or as specified by the Board.(17)The other functions of the Biodiversity Management Committees are to advise on any matter referred to it by the State Biodiversity Board or Authority for granting approval, to maintain data about the local vaids and practitioners using the biological resources.
