Ministry of Agriculture and Forests

9 February 2017, Thimphu: A training workshop on plant taxonomy and Bhutan Biodiversity Portal (BBP) (www.biodiversity.bt) was conducted for the officials of the Jigme Dorji National Park (JDNP) at Thimphu. The training workshop aimed to brief the officials of JDNP on the plant identification techniques, herbarium techniques and awareness on the Bhutan Biodiversity Portal (BBP). This training workshop was targeted to the forestry officials of JDNP to continue collecting specimens for herbarium and strengthen the herbarium program at the park. Herbarium would be mostly focused on the collection alpine plant species and documenting the plant species diversity in the park. Basic knowledge and idea on plant identification techniques and herbarium specimen processing techniques were imparted to the officials of the park. Practical sessions were conducted on the herbarium processing and the participants also visited the National Herbarium to learn about the uniformity of labels and specimens’ arrangement techniques. Currently, National Herbarium uses the Bentham and Hooker System of Classification.

The training workshop also focused on available books, literature and papers and BBP. Participants were made aware of the understudied biodiversity groups such as ferns, mosses, algae, etc. User interface of the BBP were briefed on the background and importance of BBP and further demonstration on BBP was conducted, which surprisingly many participants were interested to study and document various biodiversity groups such as birds, orchids, mammals, etc. The awareness program on BBP is a part of seminar series which is conducted throughout the country by prioritizing relevant and important institutions such as Department of Forests and Park Services, College of Natural Resources, Sherubtse College, Gaeddu College of Business Studies, the Tourism Industry and general public at large. BBP acts as an online biodiversity repository contributed by the biodiversity enthusiasts and citizen participations and it is also an online platform which is available to all interested national and international users.

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3 February 2017, Thimphu: A two-day stakeholders’ workshop on Invertebrates of Bhutan was held in Thimphu from 1 to 2 February 2017. The participants were from the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute of Conservation and Environment (UWICE), the College of Natural Resources (CNR), Sherubtse College, the Royal Thimphu College (RTC), the National Plant Protection Centre (NPPC), and the National Biodiversity Centre (NBC). The project on Invertebrates of Bhutan is being administered and coordinated by the NBC and various stakeholders as mentioned above are involved. This project is backed up by the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in the Netherlands and the MoU has been signed between NBC and the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre.

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