About PBR
“You can never step in the same river twice” – Heraclitus
This is an apt description of every ecosystem on this planet. Ecosystems are dynamic, ever changing entities even without any human interference. But habitat destruction, expansion of agriculture, pollution is causing degradation of these systems resulting in species loss as never before. Additionally, a stark disconnect from nature in day-to-day life is resulting in loss of traditional knowledge about flora and fauna, accumulated over the generations.
Along with the efforts to conserve and protect the threatened ecosystems, there is also an acute need to document biodiversity, cultural diversity and the traditional knowledge associated with it, all of which is being lost at a scary pace.
Who could be more appropriate to document biodiversity than people closely associated with it? As the very word suggests, PBR, i.e. People’s Biodiversity Register has inclusion of common people in its very concept. On the lines of popular Citizen Science movement, this exercise is a combination of common people’s observations and sensing of biodiversity and changes validated by scientific understanding.
Amount of data to be collected for PBR is huge and is certainly not the task for a few handfuls.
Data collection is only the beginning; the bigger challenge is awareness among people regarding biodiversity, its conservation and restoration of ecosystems. It is necessary that individuals are aware of the earth we inherited and the condition in which we are leaving it for the future generations. Only then the policies, the development plans would reflect approach towards sustainability. As Brundtland report states “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
This awareness is possible only if more and more people are involved in the initiatives concerning biodiversity. Only then a sense of responsibility would develop which might result in a constructive action.
