hyderabad
Conservation of wetlands is vital for saving the earth as they support 40% of the planet’s flora and fauna despite covering only 6% of the surface, said Secretary of the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) B. Balaji here on Monday.
He was speaking at the inauguration of a five-day training programme on International Convention of Wetlands and Biodiversity organised by the NBA in association with the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR). Mr. Balaji said case studies and field visits would help Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers immensely.
He termed India a role model for many of the 192 signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The country passed the Biological Diversity Act in 2002, and the access-benefit sharing, a key feature of it, made the Act a tremendous success.
Sharing his experience in various capacities, Chairperson of the NBA C. Achalender Reddy cited the premature flowering issues faced by bamboo farmers in Maharashtra while explaining the impact of a lack of knowledge of bio-economy. He briefed the audience about the challenges faced in introducing the concept of ecotourism in Arunachal Pradesh and how it became a success.
Director-General of NIRDPR G. Narendra Kumar explained the role played by the NIRDPR as an apex capacity building organisation, a think-tank for the Ministry of Rural Development and a central technical support agency. Sharing his experiences as the managing director of cooperative sugar mills in Puducherry, he recalled how he helped farmers tide over the crisis created by red-dot disease in high-yielding variety of sugarcane through crop diversification.
He said the training programme was planned to introduce recent changes in the principles and governance tools at international level to IFS officers. The programme would take a trans-disciplinary approach with the help of natural and social scientists from different disciplines and add value to India’s efforts on biodiversity governance.
Prof. Jyothis Sathyapalan and Prof. Ravindra S. Gavali of CNRM-CC&DM and other spoke at the inaugural session. The programmes is being attended by 17 senior IFS officers from different states.
