Mumbai: Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar asserted that India is confident it can conserve its rich biodiversity while ensuring development.
Speaking at the International Biodiversity Day event in Mumbai on Sunday night, Javadekar said, “It is a myth that ecological conservation and development cannot coexist. It is not correct to see environment and development as being two ends of a spectrum, where one must be compromised in order to enhance the other.” He said concerns of livelihood should be addressed equally while framing policies for environmental protection.
Referring to the Western Ghats, Javadekar assured that the centre will formulate a policy that will conserve the rich biodiversity of the area, at the same ensuring that the livelihoods of 50 million people residing in the region spread across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are not adversely affected.
Javadekar said India was one of the recognised mega-diverse countries of the world, harbouring nearly 8 per cent of recorded species and representing four biodiversity hotspots.
He commended the people’s action for environment conservation and said a ‘jan andolan’ (people’s movement) was necessary for biodiversity conservation. The minister lamented that many success stories of environment conservation were not highlighted by the mainstream media.
Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao, in his address, called for a partnership between government, business, agricultural research institutions, NGOs and farmers to meet the challenge of food security while also preserving the country’s biological resources. He said the Marathwada region was witnessing unprecedented drought and therefore conserving water, maintaining clean water bodies and managing water resources judiciously were critical to sustaining life and livelihood of people and also to maintain biodiversity.
Professor R. Sukumar of the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bengaluru, in his keynote address called for using ecology and sociology as the basis for conservation in India, instead of political and administrative boundaries. He advocated landscape approach to ecological conservation instead of national parks protected area approach, which happens to be a borrowing from the West.
Speaking on the occasion, Yuri Afanasiev, UNDP Representative in India, said, “By investing in biodiversity we are investing in people, planet and prosperity — which is the underlying premise of Sustainable Development Goals.”
