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. 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.