The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has released over twenty-nine lakh Rupees to the Odisha Forest Department for the conservation and protection of Red Sanders.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change informed that the fund was generated from benefit-sharing received for accessing Red Sanders wood logs sourced from the Parlakhemundi Forest Division in Odisha.
Red Sanders are highly valuable woods used for making furniture, musical instruments, cosmetics, and domestically for traditional medicines.
The initiative aims to promote the sustainable use and conservation of India’s unique biological resources.
This release is part of a series of Access and Benefit Sharing disbursements made by the NBA to support conservation efforts nationwide.
The Ministry added that so far, over 50 crore rupees have been released to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu for Red Sanders conservation and related research projects.
With this release, Odisha becomes the fourth State to receive ABS funds from the commercial use of Red Sanders, reaffirming NBA’s commitment to channel benefit-sharing revenues towards biodiversity protection and sustainable management.