Can a People’s Biodiversity Register Contribute to Conservation?

The loss of biodiversity is becoming a major threat in India and across the world. In an attempt to preserve India’s vast biodiversity, the Indian government enacted the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. This Act provisions for Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC) at the local level, which aim to prepare a People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) in consultation with local people. PBRs have the ability to record new species and can combat the loss of traditional ecological knowledge by recording a region’s biological and cultural resources.