Seminar on the “national biodiversity conservation and sustainable program with special focus on access and benefit sharing”

A seminar on the “national biodiversity conservation and sustainable program with special focus on access and benefit sharing” was held at the College of Natural Resources (CNR), Lobesa on 15^th September 2016. This is the third seminar that the National Biodiversity Centre (NBC) has held at CNR and is part of the initiative to educate and broaden the knowledge of the academic institutions on the national as well as international developments in the field of conservation and sustainable utilization of biological diversity with special focus on Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism. It is hoped that the insight gained from such seminars will improve their interest and enthusiasm in the field of biodiversity conservation which in turn enable them to work more effectively in the implementation of biodiversity conservation and sustainable programs in the country.

The seminar covered various biodiversity conservation and sustainable utilisation initiatives in the country, an overview of the national and international conventions, protocols and legal framework on biodiversity such as the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing, Access and Benefit Sharing Policy of Bhutan 2015 and Access and Benefit Sharing regime adopted in the country.  Participants were also updated on the importance of Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) and the inventory and documentation of Traditional Knowledge associated with biological resources.

The seminar was attended by the faculty members and about 85 students comprising from B.Sc Forestry (Nested), B.Sc. Forestry (In-service), B.Sc. Agriculture (In-service) and M.Sc. Natural Resource Management of the College. The seminar was supported through a project “Nagoya Protocol Implementation Fund” implemented by the National Biodiversity Centre in collaboration with UNDP Bhutan.