Understanding People’s Biodiversity Registers: Documenting Local Flora and Fauna

Every neighbourhood has its own ecological story – from the trees lining the streets to the birds nesting in local wetlands, and the medicinal plants that generations of residents have relied on. But how do you capture all of this knowledge in one place before it’s lost? That’s exactly the role of People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs). These community-led documents systematically record local flora, fauna, and traditional ecological knowledge, creating a powerful foundation for conservation and sustainable resource management.

What are People’s Biodiversity Registers? 🔗

A People’s Biodiversity Register is a comprehensive, locally maintained document that records the biological diversity of a specific area – including plants, animals, microorganisms, and the traditional knowledge associated with them. In India, PBRs are mandated under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, making them a legal requirement for local self-governing bodies across the country.

PBRs go well beyond a simple species checklist. They are databases that capture people’s traditional knowledge about the status, uses, history, and ongoing changes in the biological resources of their localities. They also record current utilisation patterns of biodiversity and their economic benefits to local communities. Essentially, PBRs serve as baseline data for future management strategies needed for sustainable use of biodiversity in a decentralised manner.

At the local level, Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) are responsible for preparing and maintaining PBRs. These committees operate under the supervision of the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs). As of May 2023, over 2,67,608 PBRs had been prepared across India, with Andhra Pradesh leading among states in terms of total numbers.

The purpose of People’s Biodiversity Registers 🔗

PBRs serve multiple functions that extend far beyond documentation. Understanding these purposes explains why governments and conservation organisations consider them essential tools.

Preserving traditional ecological knowledge 🔗

One of the most important functions of a PBR is capturing traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) that might otherwise disappear. This includes knowledge about medicinal plant uses, sustainable harvesting practices, seasonal ecological patterns, and relationships between species that communities have observed over centuries. The PBR programme fills the need for documenting oral and traditional knowledge that people choose to disclose, along with local innovations that often go unrecorded.

For example, Indian communities have long used turmeric for wound healing. Without formal documentation in a PBR, such knowledge risks being commercially exploited by external entities – a practice known as biopiracy. PBRs provide legal evidence that communities possessed this knowledge first, protecting their intellectual property rights.

Supporting sustainable resource management 🔗

PBRs provide the detailed, location-specific information needed for sound resource management decisions. They help communities track changes in species populations, identify ecologically sensitive areas, and develop sustainable harvesting guidelines. A farming community, for instance, can use their PBR to identify native crop varieties better adapted to local conditions or wild plants that work as natural pest controls.

Enabling Access and Benefit Sharing 🔗

When external entities – such as pharmaceutical companies or research organisations – want to use biological resources from a local area for commercial purposes, PBRs ensure that the originating community receives fair compensation. This mechanism, known as Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS), is one of the three core objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to which India is a signatory.

Steps in the PBR process 🔗

Creating a PBR is inherently a participatory and collaborative process. It follows a structured sequence of steps designed to ensure comprehensive documentation and genuine community ownership.

Step 1: Formation of Biodiversity Management Committees 🔗

The process begins with constituting a BMC at the gram panchayat, municipality, or district level. BMCs consist of a chairperson and up to six members nominated by the local body. The composition mandates that at least one-third of the members must be women, and at least 18% must belong to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes. This ensures diverse representation from the outset.

Step 2: Community consultation and awareness 🔗

Before any data collection begins, the BMC organises meetings to sensitise the community about the objectives and benefits of the PBR exercise. This phase is crucial because the success of any PBR depends entirely on community participation. Facilitators work with community leaders, elders, traditional healers, farmers, and other stakeholder groups – often explaining the concept in local languages and culturally appropriate ways. Concerns about how the documented information will be used are also addressed during this stage.

Step 3: Data collection 🔗

This is the most intensive phase. Trained volunteers, students, and local experts work alongside community members to gather information through multiple methods:

Literature review: Existing research on the natural resources of the district is compiled. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA): Village-level exercises that help map resources and document community knowledge. Household and individual interviews: Conversations with village leaders, knowledgeable individuals, household heads, panchayat representatives, and NGO workers. Direct field observations: On-ground surveys to verify and supplement the interview data.

The information collected covers local species (plants, animals, microorganisms), their traditional uses, cultural significance, ongoing ecological changes, and the forces driving those changes. In some regions, modern technology like geo-tagging and GIS mapping is also used to accurately document the spatial distribution of biological resources.

Step 4: Data analysis and validation 🔗

After collection, the data undergoes analysis and verification. Scientific experts and local authorities cross-check species identifications and validate traditional knowledge claims. A Technical Support Group (TSG) – constituted by the State Biodiversity Board – provides guidance during this phase. Community members play an active role in reviewing the documented information and suggesting corrections or additions.

Step 5: Compilation and finalisation 🔗

The verified data is compiled into the final PBR document. A Bio-Cultural Community Protocol (BCP) may also be prepared as an annexure to promote Access and Benefit Sharing. The completed register is then maintained by the BMC and counter-signed by the State Biodiversity Board. Copies are submitted to the relevant state and national authorities for record-keeping and policy use.

Impact of PBRs on local conservation efforts 🔗

When done well, PBRs produce tangible conservation outcomes at the community level. Their impact is visible across several dimensions.

Community empowerment and ownership 🔗

PBRs shift communities from being passive recipients of top-down conservation policies to active participants in managing their own biological resources. When a community has detailed documentation of its local biodiversity, it gains the knowledge and confidence to make informed conservation decisions – establishing protected areas, developing sustainable harvesting rules, and advocating for their natural resources against threats like unchecked development or resource extraction.

As the early research on PBRs noted, these registers bring together locality-specific information that leads to recognition of conservation-oriented local practices such as the protection of sacred groves. They also help mobilise communities to manage biodiversity resources in ways that promote social justice.

Protecting traditional knowledge and intellectual property 🔗

By formally recording indigenous knowledge, PBRs create a documented evidence base that communities can use to establish prior claims over biological resources and associated knowledge. This is critical for preventing biopiracy and ensuring that communities are credited – and compensated – when their knowledge is used commercially. The legal backing provided by the Biological Diversity Act means communities now have formal ownership over their documented knowledge.

Informing urban and regional conservation planning 🔗

PBRs are not limited to rural areas. Urban biodiversity registers have proven valuable in fast-growing cities. A notable example is Kolkata, which became the first major metropolitan city in India to prepare a detailed PBR. The 520-page document catalogued 399 plant species and 283 animal species across all 144 wards of the city. It covered hotspots like the East Kolkata Wetlands (a Ramsar site) and has since been used to support decisions about urban forestry zones and water body protection. Cities like Chandigarh and Indore have also prepared similar registers.

In Bengaluru, recording a woodland near Manyata Tech Park in the city’s PBR helped spark citizen interest in conserving the area. Documentation of ecologically rich spaces through the PBR process is particularly important in urban areas facing rapid expansion and unplanned development.

Providing baseline data for science and policy 🔗

PBRs supply valuable information to government agencies, NGOs, and researchers involved in environmental impact assessments, protected area designations, and biodiversity conservation planning. They bridge the gap between traditional knowledge systems and modern conservation science – combining different ways of understanding and managing biodiversity that benefit both communities and the broader scientific community.

Challenges in PBR implementation 🔗

Despite their value, PBRs face several significant challenges. Verification remains a major bottleneck – out of over 2,67,608 PBRs prepared in India, only about 11,951 had been verified as of 2023. Many PBRs are also not regularly updated; Bengaluru, for instance, created its PBR in 2009 and had not updated it for over a decade.

Other challenges include inadequate funding, low awareness at various administrative levels, and limited expertise among nodal agencies – such as forest departments and state biodiversity boards – to properly verify documented PBRs. The digitisation of PBRs into electronic formats (e-PBRs) is one step being taken to improve accessibility and maintenance, but much work remains.

Moving forward, solutions include developing simpler updating procedures, training community members in data management, and leveraging modern tools like smartphone-based species identification apps and remote sensing technology to enhance both the creation and ongoing maintenance of PBRs.

Why PBRs matter for urban biodiversity 🔗

As cities expand and natural habitats shrink, the need to document urban biodiversity becomes increasingly urgent. PBRs help cities understand what ecological assets they still possess – from tree canopies and wetlands to butterfly populations and bird species. This documentation is the foundation for informed decision-making about green spaces, urban forestry, water body protection, and climate adaptation strategies.

The PBR approach also fosters a sense of ecological citizenship among urban residents. When people participate in documenting the biodiversity around them, they develop a deeper connection to their environment and become more invested in protecting it.

What do you think? Could a People’s Biodiversity Register make a meaningful difference in how your city or neighbourhood approaches conservation? And in an era of rapid urbanisation, how can communities ensure that the traditional ecological knowledge captured in PBRs is not just documented but actively used in planning and development decisions?

References

1. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=1926651
2. https://keralabiodiversity.org/?page_id=1342
3. https://terralingua.org/stories/recording-traditional-knowledge-of-biodiversity-for-the-peoples-biodiversity-register-of-india/
4. https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/pbr-and-biodiversity-management-in-india
5. https://india.mongabay.com/2024/07/explainer-what-is-a-peoples-biodiversity-register/
6. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1011438729881
7. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/wildlife-biodiversity/kolkata-unveils-biodiversity-register-first-among-major-indian-metros-82973