The environment ministry has also approved 82 lakh to the Andhra Pradesh Biodiversity Board by the National Biodiversity Authority based in Chennai to conserve Red Sanders. The money is to plant one lakh Red Sanders saplings to be eventually distributed to farmers, as part of the Trees Outside Forests (ToF) programme. The move is a big step towards preserving a species, which is unique to the area.
Red Sanders is indigenous to the Southern Eastern Ghats and is located primarily in the districts of Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa and Kurnool. The species is of great demand in the world particularly in China and East Asia as a source of furniture, musical instruments, traditional medicine, and cosmetics. Its market worth has placed it under illicit trafficking and hence the need to conserve it. There is legal protection of the species through the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which closely controls its international trade.
The approved funds are given by the amount of the benefit sharing on the users of Red Sanders and are used to conserve the biodiversity and sent back to the local farmers and the biodiversity board. The project will be an example of implementing the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism that is established in the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (amended 2023) to control access to biological resources and equitably and fairly share benefits with the local community, Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs), and other interested parties.
In the past, NBA had handed over more than 31.55 crore to the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department in conservation and protection activities of Red Sanders. The present distribution is likely to directly aid in conservation at grassroots level, i.e. local and tribal communities in the nurseries development, sapling plantation, and long term care. Such initiatives will not only improve job creation and capacity building but also create local stewardship, which ensures long term preservation of Red Sanders coupled with empowering communities throughout Andhra Pradesh.
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