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14-03-2014

Under Section/Module : Newwhats

Signing of Letter of Agreement (LoA) - Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation & Development Initiative (KSLCDI)

Publish Date: 04-03-2014

Exchange of LoA - Member Secretary, UBB & Dr. Ranbeer S. Rawal, GBPIHED

4th March, 2014: A Letter of Agreement was signed today between representatives from the Uttarakhand Biodiversity Board (UBB) and the Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development (GBPIHED). The Agreement defines the roles and responsibilities of both collaborators in the implementation of the activities of the Component 3 (Access and Benefit Sharing) of the Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative (KSLCDI) Programme in India.

The Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative (KSLCDI) is a programme initiated by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in an effort to synergize the collaboration among the Nations of China, India and Nepal, working for the conservation and development of the vital landscape. The programme is focusing on five areas - Innovative Livelihoods, Ecosystem Management, Access and Benefit Sharing, Long-term Conservation and Monitoring, and Regional Cooperation, Enabling Policies and Knowledge Management. The Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL) is an area encompassing over 31,000 km2 in a remote south-western portion of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) of China and adjacent area in India and Nepal. This region forms an ecosystem vital to millions of people in all three countries, being the source of four important rivers—Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra and Karnali, and is an essential habitat for a wide variety of flora and fauna, including several endangered species. As the landscape interlinks trans-boundary ecosystems, any disturbance to the ecosystem at any point impacts the entire KSL.

Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development (GBPIHED) is an autonomous institute of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India. This institute is the lead institution for the implementation of Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative (KSLCDI) Programme in India. The Nodal Officer for this project is Dr. Ranbeer S. Rawal, Scientist, GBPIHED.

Uttarakhand Biodiversity Board (UBB) is a collaborator with this project, responsible for the implementation of the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) component of the project.

Dr. Ranbeer S. Rawal delivered a presentation introducing the KSLCDI Programme and its components and discussed the details of the Agreement on the Component 3 (Access and Benefit Sharing) between the two organizations. Letters of Agreement (LoA) were exchanged between Mr. G.S. Pande, Member Secretary, Uttarakhand Biodiversity Board and Dr. R.S. Rawal, Scientist, GBPIHED & Nodal Person KSLCDI in the august presence of Dr. Rakesh Shah, Chairman, Uttarakhand Biodiversity Board, Dr. P.P. Dhyani, Director, GBPIHED, Mr. Manoj Chandran, Additional Secretary, Forests, Government of Uttarakhand. Mr. Dhananjay Prasad, Deputy Director, Uttarakhand Biodiversity Board, Dr. S.K. Shrivastava, Deputy Director and Head, Botanical Survey of India, Dehradun, Mr. M.S. Tomar, Deputy Director, Agriculture, Uttarakhand, Dr. Sandeep Rawat, Joint Director (Planning), Animal Husbandry Department, Uttarakhand, Dr. Kishore Nautiyal, Executive Director, SAMVEDI, Dehradun, and Dr. Ramesh C. Uniyal, Consultant – MAPs under UNDP-GEF Project, SMPB, Dehradun and Dr. Badrish Singh Mehra, Coordinator, KSLCDI – GBPIHED were also present on the occasion.

The programme concluded with a vote of thanks from the Chairman, Uttarakhand Biodiversity Board followed by a Question & Answer session with the print media. Dr. Rakesh Shah explained the details of the Access and Benefit Sharing provisions and the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and the Rules made thereunder.