Punjab Biodiversity Board (PBB) has been set up as a statutory body u/s 22 of the Biological Diversity Act (BD Act), 2002, promulgated by the Ministry of Environment Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Govt. of India, in response to actions required to be taken up under the International Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of which India is a signatory. The Convention recognizes the sovereign rights of each country on its biological resources and associated traditional knowledge.

The Objectives of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 are:

Biological Diversity Rules were notified in 2004 to spell out procedures and mechanisms for the implementation of the BD Act, 2002 throughout the nation. India is a forerunner in bringing out such an umbrella legislations with the objective of protecting the country’s rich biodiversity & associated Traditional Knowledge. Each State Govt. is required to set up the State Biodiversity Board (SBB) at State level under section 22 of the BD Act, 2002 and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at every local body level i.e. District/Block/ Village and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) under section 41 of BD Act to facilitate conservation of biological diversity and implement the Act.

The BD Act envisages a three tier system for implementing the same with the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) at the apex with its headquarters located in Chennai, each state with its individual State Biodiversity Board (SBB) / Union Territory Biodiversity Council (UTBC) and each local body with a Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC). The PBB was first notified in December, 2004 and is being re-notified from time to time. Presently, PBB is functioning from the O/o Punjab State Council for Science & Technology (PSCST) under the administrative control of Department of Science, Technology & Environment, Govt. of Punjab.

The major mandate of the Board is to:

• Advise the State Govt. and provide technical assistance on matters related to conservation of biodiversity and implementation of BD Act, 2002 in state.
• Facilitate setting up of Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) and preparation of People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) at District/Block/Village and ULBs level.
• Regulate the access of biological resources for commercial utilization & facilitate implementation of access & benefit sharing mechanism.
• Identify and takes steps to conserve ‘Biodiversity Heritage Sites’ and threatened flora and fauna of the State.
• Undertake capacity building programs, studies and R&D.