Goa State Biodiversity Board (GSBB)
Goa State Biodiversity Board (GSBB) is an autonomous body of Government of Goa under Department of Science, Technology and Environment, situated in the premises of Department of Science, Technology and Environment, Saligao, Bardez- Goa. As per the provision made in Section 22 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 for the establishment of State Biodiversity Boards, the State Government of Goa constituted the Goa State Biodiversity Board in the year 2004 vide Notification No. 07/17/92/STE/PART/858 dated: 02/12/2004, Gazette No. Series II No. 37 dated: 13/12/2004 Extraordinary No. 3. Later the Board was reconstituted vide Notification No. 07/17/92/STE/PART/625 dated: 29/08/2012, Gazette No. Series II No. 22 dated: 06/09/2012. Board was reconstituted vide Notification No. 07/17/92/STE/PART/1294, Gazette No. Series II No. 38 dated:17/12/2015.Board was reconstituted vide Notification No. 07/17/92/STE/PART/827, Gazette No. Series II No. 38 dated:29/01/2019.
The Board works under the Chairmanship of Hon. Minister for Environment, Shri. Nilesh Cabral and Dr. Pradip V. Sarmokadam is the Member Secretary of the Board. There are nine other actively involved Members on the Board, which includes 5 ex-officio members representing the concerned department of the State Government.
Functions of the Board:
As per section 23 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, the functions of the Board are:
a) Advise the State Government, subject to any guidelines issued by the Central Government, on matters relating to the conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of its components and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of biological resources;
b) Regulate by granting of approvals or otherwise requests for commercial utilization or bio-survey and bio-utilization of any biological resource by Indians;
c) Performs such other functions as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 or as may be prescribed by the State Government.
The Goa State Biodiversity Board is acting on the following lines to achieve the goal:
a) To make people aware of the biodiversity and its importance for human well being
b) Constitution of Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC’s) at the Panchayat and Municipal level for decentralized management of Bio-resource.
c) Documentation of Biodiversity, its uses, traditional knowledge and practices associated with it, in the form of People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs), involving local peoples through the concerning BMCs.
Goa SBB Mandate
Goa state is one of the richest repositories of biological diversity. It has six wildlife sanctuaries including one bird sanctuary and one National Park.
The primary mandate of the Board is to conserve biodiversity, sustainable use of its components and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of biological resources. This Board is a body corporate under the BD Act 2002.