The task of preparing People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) for collection of information on local biological resources and their medicinal use and other traditional knowledge associated with it was held in Roing on December 3.

About 50 villagers from Lower Dibang Valley including forest and wildlife officials took part in the first day of the three days PBR training held under the project ‘Mainstreaming Conservation and Sustainable use of Medicinal Plant Diversity in 3 Indian States’.

Organized by the Arunachal Pradesh State Medicinal Plant Board (APSMPB) and assisted by Divisional Forest Office (Wildlife), the local villagers were given training with a sample questionnaire for collection of information on local medicinal plants and its traditional uses.

“This is a platform to raise all related issues and to formulate strategies for conservation and sustainable use of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) in the near future,” said Ms Tenzing Dema, project coordinator, APSMPB.

In the course of the next two days training, the participants will be taken for field visit to Koronu and Mayudia to meet people working on herbal medicines and to collect information on medicinal plants. Mayudia, a hot tourist spot in the Mishmi Hills at a distance 52 km from Roing is identified as one of the Medicinal Plants Conservation Area (MPCA) in the locality.

The task of the participants will be to help gather local information for preparation of a Community Knowledge Register (CKR) at local panchayat level.