Biodiversity Heritage Site

Biodiversity Heritage Sites Latest News

The government recently declared 8.6 acres of green cover at Cantonment Railway Colony as a biodiversity heritage site — the second in Bengaluru after Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra (GKVK).

About Biodiversity Heritage Sites

• BHS are rich biodiversity areas and are important components of local ecosystems which are being conserved and managed by the society.
• BHS are unique ecosystems having rich biodiversity comprising any one or more of the following components:
  • Richness of wild as well as domesticated species or intra-specific categories.
  • High endemism.
  • Presence of rare and threatened species, keystone species, and species of evolutionary significance.
  • Wild ancestors of domestic/cultivated species or their varieties.
  • Past pre-eminence of biological components represented by fossil beds and having significant cultural, ethical or aesthetic values and are important for the maintenance of cultural diversity, with or without a long history of human association with them.
• They may spread over terrestrial, aquatic, coastal and inland and marine ecosystems having rich biodiversity. 
• Under Section-37 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, the State Government, in consultation with local bodies, may notify areas of biodiversity importance as BHS.
• State Governments are empowered to frame schemes for compensating or rehabilitating any person or section of people economically affected by such notification.
• The State Government, in consultation with the Central Government, may frame rules for the management and conservation of BHS.
• The creation of BHS may not put any restriction on the prevailing practices and usages of the local communities other than those voluntarily decided by them. 
• The purpose of declaring BHS is to enhance the quality of life of the local communities through the conservation of such sites.
• In 2007, the Nallur Tamarind Grove in Bengaluru, Karnataka, was designated as India’s first BHS.

Source: TOI

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