Karnataka   

Eco-tourism must not affect ecology, says Ashisara

CHIKMAGALUR: Ananth Hegde Ashisara, president of the task force for development of Western Ghats, said here on Tuesday that the growth of eco-tourism should not adversely affect the ecology of the area.

Presiding over a workshop on conserving and developing the Western Ghats, organised by the task force and the Forest Department, Mr. Ashisara stressed the need for a monitoring committee at the district level in this regard.

Expressing satisfaction that the attitude of the government towards forests and the environment had changed considerably for the better, he said the ecology of the coastal areas was being threatened by pollution and that it required immediate attention.

Calling upon universities to involve themselves in ensuring that sustainable development and environment did not clash with one another, he said protests by environmentalists had resulted in the amendment of several mega projects. He said efforts to prevent mining in the Western Ghats had also been successful.

R. Narayanaswamy, Deputy Commissioner of Chikmagalur district, said conservation of water had gained utmost importance owing to the depletion of the ground water table. Reiterating that it was outsiders and not tribal people who were responsible for the exploitation of forests, he said that the tribal people should be involved in the development process.

E.T. Puttaiah, head of the department of environmental science in Kuvempu University, said conservation of bio-diversity was necessary to prevent ecological imbalance. He said encroachment and destruction of habitat due to the commercial activities of man had resulted in the decline of flora and fauna in the Western Ghats.

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