"The women of
my village rebuilt their lives from destitution by developing
a bank of 10 seed varieties. All of you have to help us in conserving
them since our lives are dependent on them". This was a fervent
appeal made by Smt. Sammamma, a woman from Bidkanne village of
Medak district in Andhra Pradesh while addressing the inaugural
session of the National Workshop on National Biological Diversity
Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) here today.
Giving an account
of the way the women of her village rebuilt their lives Smt. Sammamma
said the villagers are now standing on their own following the
collection and conservation of 10 different varieties of major
crops grown in the area. She said the ‘Mahila Sangam’ of the village
formed 17 years back strived to collect knowledge and information
about different varieties grown in the area suited for different
agro climatic conditions which had now helped them grow crops
on lands rendered waste. Subjected to extreme poverty, the Bidkanne
villagers decided to have their own seeds for their own agriculture
on their own lands to redeem them from destitution and the seed
bank that they built has pulled them out of poverty and their
children were now going to schools, elaborated Smt. Sammamma.
NBSAP Project
is a decentralized and a participatory exercise launched about
3 years back to evolve site-specific action plans for conservation
of biodiversity. The final National Workshop is being held to
discuss the Draft National Biodiversity Action Plan before it
is released early next year. Inaugurating the Workshop, Shri K.
C. Misra, Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forests
said conservation of biodiversity requires commitment of all stakeholders
and the views expressed by Smt. Sammamma highlighted the significance
of this task. He said the Biodiversity Bill, 2002 passed by the
Parliament provides for setting up of Biodiversity Management
Committees at the grassroot level for documenting biological resources
and associated traditional uses.
