Chhattisgarh Forest Department / NWFP Certification

Dr. K. K. Chakravarty summed up the day's events and summarized the sessions. He mentioned that the rate of extinction of plant species has been lower in Chhattisgarh. He laid emphasis on indiscriminate conservation rather than selective conservation, in view of the large resource illiteracy in the state. The process of conservation itself should be certified.

He stressed, in the context of Chhattisgarh, the need to restore the culture of the commons, to recognize the special role of women in selection of seeds and in harvest and post harvest operation, to document local knowhow about soil-chemistry, bacteriology, entomology and geology, and, to use local help for codification, domestification and defensive digital disclosure of data.

Dr. Chakravarty stated that there has to be integration between various departments. He also suggested that forest management and certification of non-wood forest products couldn't be seen in isolation without taking agriculture, fisheries, biotechnology, health into account.

According to him, value addition will have to be given due recognition as a basic pre-requisite for certification.

A prior art database has been developed by the USA and similar efforts have to be undertaken by India as well to incorporate the Indian traditional Knowledge in the fabric. For this local informants shall be taken into collaboration for a cognitive mapping of the human landscapes.

Dr. Chakravarty also emphasized that the process of certification must be transparent and should also address the issue of benefit sharing mechanisms. He suggested that we should have a land zonation system which is in vogue in the USA. Apart from Geographic Information system (GIS) and Geographic Positioning Systems (GPS) which can generate digital or geographic maps, there is a need for qualitative mapping and zonation.

He also talked about the necessity for evolving objective, repeatable, falsifiable, acceptable processes for the purpose of certification and for developing dispute resolution mechanisms.