Coimbatore : After discussing issues relating to the Western Ghats at various levels, delegates from all six Western Ghats States who were in the city for the three days Ecological Festival on Western Ghats have jointly voiced for the legal protection of the mountain ecosystem, which would prevent the it from being further degraded in the name of development.
Western Ghats State representatives claim that environmental protection would be the main criteria to vote in the upcoming elections
Coimbatore : After discussing issues relating to the Western Ghats at various levels, delegates from all six Western Ghats States who were in the city for the three days Ecological Festival on Western Ghats have jointly voiced for the legal protection of the mountain ecosystem, which would prevent the it from being further degraded in the name of development.
In the declaration of the conference read by Vaishali Patil, National Presidium Member of the Save Western Ghats Movement (SWGM) that organised the conference at the Sri Krishna Arts and Science College, the delegates have claimed that lack of minimal protection of the ecosystem had led to habitat degeneration, which is a serious problem.
Claiming that certain constitutional mechanisms are not yet effectively used by communities and their leaders, the conference has recommended a variety of suggestions to empower the laws.
“The laws include the enabling provisions of Forest Rights Act, the Biological Diversity Act (2002), the various guidelines issued for effective joint forestry management, and the provisions of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, which have now been opened to support a wide range of activity that can be used for ecological restoration of the Western Ghats, should be enabled,” the declaration read.
Pondering over the critically endangered status of certain species from even areas that were protected for several decades in sanctuaries and National Parks, the conference has lashed out on the “development mafias” of the six States (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat), both private and official, for planning several infrastructure projects including new roads, extensions of existing roads, roads on steep slopes, railway projects, real estate adventures and resorts, etc.,
While development projects are reportedly given nods by the authorities, the conference has pointed that the Governments were not allowing scientific developments including re-introduction of certain lost species. “Despite pleas from experts to re-introduce the Nilgiri Tahr in areas which can absorb them, the system is unable to respond,” read the declaration.
They have also voiced against road developments, usage of pesticides in tea estates, use of wire mesh fencing, construction of unwanted check dams and lack of proper tourism policy.
Opposing the reported narrow and limited legal protection that the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) notification affords to the Western Ghats, the conference has declared that all the environmentally destructive projects that would push the mountain range without recovery will be opposed. “We would ensure that the authorities do their duty by the constitution of India, and install a collective and holistic protective regime grounded in law for all the six states together. We do not want studies. All we now want is action,” read the declaration.
Earlier on the day, delegates from the States of Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu claimed that the conservation of nature would be the focus during the upcoming elections, both general and State elections. “We would vote for the candidates who promise to preserve natural resources,” they said, which was accepted by other delegates.
At the very end of the conference, K. Kalidasan, the National Coordinator of SWGM suggested that the 1st of February should be made as the Western Ghats Day, marking the inception of the Save Western Ghats March that was held on the 1st of February in 1987. The 9th Conference of SWGM also began on the 1st of February, 2019.
The members including K.C. Malhotra, the Founding Chairperson of SWGM took oath to protect Western Ghats at the end of the conference.
More than a thousand people attended the conference from all over the country. Parallel discussions were held on human-animal conflict, laws that protect nature, participation of public in nature conservation and sensitization strategies at larger scale. A photography exhibition was also held.