Author: NBC

Final_NISM_report

The National Biodiversity Center, Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, Serbithang conducted a series of regional consultation workshop on “Draft Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Policy of Bhutan” in Gelephu, Mongar, Bumthang and Paro. It also covered the relevant stockholders like College of Natural Resources, Lobesa and Sherubtse College, Kanglung.

The workshop was organized to familiarize the relevant stakeholders on the policy and also to generate feedbacks for its improvement before submission to Policy and Planning Committee, MoAF and further to the Cabinet.

In order to secure benefits from the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources as well as to enable the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing, clear policy directives are critical. Therefore this Access and Benefit Sharing Policy is developed to guide access to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge and ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from their research and commercial utilization. It will also enable national capacity-building and contribute to the vision outlined in Vision 2020, to encourage the wise use of natural resources as a development asset to contribute not only to the process of sustainable social and economic development of the country but also to benefit humankind.

The workshop was attended by participants comprising Chief Forestry Officers from Territorial Divisions, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries, Dzongkhag RNR Sector Heads, Dzongkhag Environmental Officers, Researchers from RNR RDCs, Dzongkhag Yarge Tshogdu Chairmans, local healers and representatives of Community Forest and Non-wood Forest Product groups.

The development of the Policy was facilitated by the services of three international legal experts from Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway and Natural Justice-Lawyers for Communities and the Environment, South Africa.

The workshop was very useful in generating feedbacks. The participants really supported the policy and said it was very timely. The major concern from the stakeholders was on the benefit sharing mechanism and development of community protocols on access to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge.

A one-day national stakeholder consultation workshop on invertebrates was organized in the capital by the National Biodiversity Centre on 18^th June, 2012. It was attended by 18 participants representing various organization and agencies such as the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environment (UWICE), WildLife Conservation Division (WCD), RDC-Yusipang, Royal Society for Protection of Nature (RSPN), National Plant Protection Centre, and WWF-Bhutan Program. The workshop was technically back-stopped by Dr. Willem Ferdinand Klein, Edmund Gittenberger, and Prof. Andriana Cornelia Gittenberger, scientists from the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity called Naturalis.

The main objective of the workshop was to facilitate discussion on the identification and prioritisation of invertebrates of interest and utility as well as to identify gaps in technical expertise and knowledge in the country. The result/recommendations of the workshop will be presented to the Gross National Happiness Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests for further direction and advice on the way forward in the study of invertebrates.

His Excellency Lyonpo (Dr.) Pema Gyamtsho, Minister for Agriculture and Forests, made a brief visit to the Royal Botanical Garden, Serbithang on 7^th June, 2012 and took a tour of the recently‘re-designed’ rock garden and the orchidarium. He was accompanied by the Heads of the Departments of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests.

The rock garden was redesigned and redeveloped with the technical and partial financial support of Mr. Thomas Hoijer, while the expansion of the orchid collection (upto 265 species) and display in the orchidarium was technically supported by Mr. Stig Dalstrom. Both these Swedish gentlemen have been volunteering at the National Biodiversity Centre to provide their technical expertise and hands-on assistance in the development of the Botanical garden and Orchid taxonomy and management capacity for over four years now.

The Botanical garden was established in 1999 as a tribute to His Majesty the 4^th Druk Gyalpo’s 25 years of golden reign. It has blossomed in twelve years from a ‘bare patch of land’ into one of the most popular ‘getaways’ for Thimphu locals as well as tourists. The Garden is poised to increase the native floral collection for the purpose of ex situ conservation as well as to inculcate a love for our native flora amongst the Bhutanese; it has also initiated efforts to rescue flora from vulnerable environments.