Himachal CM expresses concern over shrinking biodiversity

Himachal PradeshChief Minister Virbhadra Singh today expressed serious concern over "shrinking biodiversity" and said that decline of biodiversity was a serious threat to human development.
"There is an urgent need to collaborate and reverse the trend with our actions as human beings are affecting the biodiversity with unsustainable consumption and decline of biodiversity was a serious threat to human development," Singh said while presiding over the closing session of training workshop on 'Mainstreaming Biodiversity: sustaining people and their livelihoods', organised by Himachal Pradesh State Biodiversity Board and State Council for Science, Technology and Environment here.
He asserted that biodiversity was the foundation for life and for essential services provided by ecosystems and governments were recognising the importance of biodiversity not only for conservation but also for a sustainable economic future.

He said that the Biodiversity Act covers conservation, use of biological resources and associated knowledge occurring in India for commercial or research, bio-survey and bio-utilisation purposes.
He said districts Shimla, Chamba, Kullu and Sirmaur had been selected in the first phase for biodiversity conservation and 200 biodiversity committees had been formed.
The protected areas were key to safeguarding natural habitats for plant and animal diversity as these are necessary for conservation of habitats of both plants and animals, he said and added that "Without the cooperation of local communities, conservation loses momentum".

Exhorting the Panchayat representatives to constitute Biodiversity Management Committees in their Panchayats, the chief minister said the government would allocate a sum of Rs 60,000 for such Panchayats for effective implementation of Biodiversity Act.

"By arresting biodiversity loss and empowering people to conserve their biological inheritance, we are investing in people, their lives and their well-being," Singh said, adding that 70 per cent of the world's poor live in rural areas and were dependent on biodiversity for survival and well being.
He also expressed concern over the decline in nutrient value of the crops being cultivated nowadays and said that the farmers were cultivating only those crops and growing those vegetables, which were fetching handsome returns.
Though this was a necessity but the day was not far when the traditional crops would completely vanish and as such it was imperative to know and understand the value of traditional crops and initiate measures to conserve the natural resources, he said and sought cooperation of people, civil society, government and corporations in checking biodiversity loss.

He said, "Unless we look at biodiversity as an asset for shared benefits and social development, governments will resist biodiversity commitments, especially when confronted with the false dichotomy between protecting the environment and fighting poverty".