 Centre for Biodiversity Studies (CBS) was established in Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University in the year 2005 as founder constituent of the School of Biosciences and Biotechnology. It started functioning in 2007, with the specific mandate to undertake studies on biodiversity of the local terrain in particular and of the Pir Panjal Himalayan mountain range in general. A comprehensive Road Map for its functioning was prepared in 2008. Following its establishment, two important adjuncts were added to it: the Biodiversity Park, christened as the Pir Panjal Biodiversity Park, and the BGSBU Botanical Garden.
The Centre is involved in activities broadly classifiable into three categories:
1. Research
2. Extension
3. Environmental education
Research
In consonance with its mandate, research work in conventional and modern biology is being undertaken at CBS along the following lines:
- Inventorization of plants, animals and microbes.
- Exploration of intraspecific variation using morphological, cytological and molecular markers.
- Estimation of species abundance.
- Studying life-cycle patterns of dominant and economically useful taxa.
- Identification of endemics, studying their abundance and attempting their multiplication.
- Identification of rare and threatened species, and exploring the stress they are facing, remedying the causes, and attempting their conservation (bothin situ and ex situ) and rehabilitation.
- Locating exotics, including invasive species, assessing their impact on native taxa, and evolving methodology to contain them.
- Exploration of plant-animal interactions of all kinds.
Extension
The achievements of Science and Technology have not percolated to masses, particularly in the country’s hinterlands to the extent desired. Rajouri Poonch belt is no exception. CBS has launched programmes for imparting such skills to rural women as will help them to utilize bio-resources available at their doorsteps and convert them into assets, using technologies evolved in laboratories. These programmes aim at:
Organizing women, trained in the above crafts, into co-operatives to initiate and encourage entrepreneurship.
Arranging linkages between budding women entrepreneurs and the market.
Linking rural women with banks to mobilize loans.
Providing them technical support to foster bio-resource based enterprises.
Organizing in-service training programmes for the staff of bio-resource related organizations.
The technologies approved by the Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi for dissemination among rural women of Rajouri are:
Vermicomposting
Biocrafts
Medicinal-plant Cultivation
Mushroom Culturing
Floriculture
Environmental Education
An important task at CBS is to impart environmental education to school children and non-professional adults. This activity of the Centre has been hailed by different agencies of the State and Central Government. Under this objective, CBS undertakes the following activities:
Providing environmental education to different target groups through lectures, films, seminars, debates etc.
Impressing upon different target groups the marvels of nature and the human onslaught on environment by arranging nature trails and field trips to forests, zoos, conservatories, botanical gardens, etc.
Celebrating all events associated with environment, such as Wildlife Week, Biodiversity Day, World Environment Day, Van Mahotsava, Earth Day, etc. to create awareness.
Organizing eco-clubs and involving school children in making biodiversity registers, calendars, greeting cards, posters, caps, souvenirs, etc. depicting nature’s marvels.
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