PANAJI
“Goa is good for tourism, but I assure you that we will not damage the environment. I was the first to realize the potential of the Dudhsagar falls, but I have advised the secretary of forests about the accumulation of a lot of plastic there. We should ban plastics in the area. We should stop the vehicles and ask everyone to deposit their plastic and take it with them when they go back,” he said.
“Around 2.5 lakh tourists have visited the place but the biodiversity of the area has been destroyed once it became popular,” Parrikar said.
He also pointed to the fact that once an area was destroyed one law was not able to deal with all environment related cases in the country. “The moment there was a lot of destruction; we made laws and went to the regulatory authorities and the judicial system which tries to find a one square bracketed solution for the entire country. This is the biggest problem,” said Parrikar.
Giving an example of Goa and Maharashtra, he said the two were very different in terms of population and density, so too with a place like Andhra Pradesh, Parrikar said and added, “a lot of people tell me ease of doing business in Andhra is very good. There are thousands of acres of land in Andhra Pradesh which is barren.”
Also voicing the sustainable tourism call, National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) chairperson Dr B Meena Kumari called for capacity building and building the people’s biodiversity register.
“Goa is chosen this year as the theme perfectly fits the state with a high tourism inflow. Tourists demand national resources and add to the carbon demand. In such a situation, sustainable biodiversity for tourism is important and should be explored but without causing damage to environment itself,” she said.
The daylong celebration also included seminars on best practices on sustainable tourism and the legal framework of biodiversity and related topics.
The event was also attended by the Marina Walter, the deputy country director of the UNDP in India. Daylong exhibitions were also on display including state and national government departments as well as private institutions working in environment safeguards.
