“Certificate Course in Preparation of People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) begins in HIMCOSTE”
Shimla / 3 January / N S B News
HP ENVIS HUB at Himachal Pradesh Council for Science, Technology and Environment (HIMCOSTE), Shimla today began a two months duration course in Preparation of People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) under the Green Skill Development Programof Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Govt. of India. In line with the Skill India Mission of Hon’ble Prime Minister, MoEF&CC has taken up an initiative for skill development in the environment and forest sector to enable India’s youth to get gainful employment and/or self-employment through short term courses called the Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP).
Chief Guest of the inaugural function was Dr. S.S. Samant, Director, Himalayan Forest Research Institute (HFRI), Shimla. Dr. Mohar Singh, Officer-In-Charge, NBPGR, Sh. Sunny Sharma, Joint Member Secretary, Dr. Aparna Sharma and staff of ENVIS Hub were also present during the program. 15 students have been selected for the training program: 1 from Chandigarh, 1 from Jammu & Kashmir, 1 from Ladakh and 12 from Himachal Pradesh.
Speaking on the inaugural function Dr. S.S. Samant gave a brief note on biodiversity,waste management and stressed that we should focus on documentation of all the indigenous resources utilized by local people as this would help in conservation efforts.He emphasized that accuracy should be maintained while registering species.Dr. Mohar Singh informed that NBPGR is the 2nd largest gene bank in the world. He said that the Preparation of People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) is need of the day and diverse indigenous resources should be tagged, documented, conserved sustainably & restored. He also said that through the GSDP Programs we could build competent young scientists.
Sh. Sunny Sharma said that we can make Para taxonomist through this GSDP course and they can contribute to registrationof local biodiversity and its conservation. Students will be given hands-on-training in making PBRs through visits to villages.They will make reports based on deliberations in theory classes and field visits. On completion of the course, certificates would be given based upon evaluation by experts throughout the course and viva-voce.
Dr. Aparna Sharma, Coordinator, HP ENVIS Hub informed that GSDP Courses were initiated by MoEF&CC, GoI in 2017-18 and launched in Himachal Pradesh in 2018-19. Two such courses have been completed till now including Certificate Course on Parataxonomy in 2018 and Training course under UNDP-GOI-GEF project “SECURE HIMALAYA” of the HP Forest Department in 2019. Two more courses have been sanctioned by the Ministry on Wild Honeybee keeping and Medicinal Plants which would commence soon. She further informed that under this course, selected students would be imparted theoretical and practical knowledge by eminent experts in the fields of botany, zoology, forestry, wildlife, Biodiversityconservation, waste management, remote sensing & GIS. The objective of this training program is to make the youth capable of employment / self-employment by providing green skills training.
