Panaji
Stating that the Biological Diversity Act 2002 and the Biological Diversity Rules 2004 were available to mostly those with white-collared jobs, Dr Giridhar Kinhal IFS (Retd) stressed that for proper implementation of the Act, it needs to be taken to the grassroots so that villagers could implement it.
Dr Kinhal was speaking at the special awareness session on the Act organised by the Goa State Biodiversity
Board (GSBB) along with the Goa Union of Journalists on Friday.
He also highlighted the need for people to act in tandem with the Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs), which are established in all panchayats in the state (almost 200).
Currently, the municipalities are yet to constitute BMCs, and are in the process of doing so.
At the half-day session, Dr Kinhal also stressed not only on conservation of species, but on understanding its real meaning.
“It is important that we work towards conserving species as they are, in their evolutionary form in the wild,” he said.
“This means that we should allow them to evolve in their natural habitats, as was 500 or 1000 years before. Human beings will feel the need for these evolved species, which is why preserving the evolutionary process is important,” he explained.
India is home to around seven to eight percent of all recorded species, including over 47,513 species of plants, and 96,373 species of animals. Of the 34 global biodiversity hotspots, four are in India - the Himalayas, Western Ghats, North-East region and the Nicobar islands.
