State forest departments should keep pace with the changes happening in the society and their rules should reflect the reality, said C. Achalender Reddy, Secretary, National Biodiversity Authority, Government of India.
To date, transport of bamboo, classified timber, was proving to be a difficult task for farmers especially many of them have started cultivation of the grass. Mr. Reddy was speaking at the International Day for Biological Diversity 2011 and Centenary Celebration of Fischer Herbarium at the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore, on Sunday.
“Why should farmers suffer for obtaining a transport permit for bamboo, especially after the Government of India has started promoting bamboo cultivation through various schemes? The forest departments should see this and amend their laws to reflect the reality.”
Bamboo, a minor forest produce, had been classified as timber and attracted the stringent provisions that would apply to the transport of any timber species, which was not necessary, Mr. Reddy explained.
Changes had to be brought about in such a way that farmers should be able to obtain the transport permit by furnishing a copy from the Revenue Department that the bamboo was cultivated and not from forest.
Mr. Reddy also said that a proposal for a minimum support price for minor forest produce was under consideration. Just as the Union Government declared the minimum price for agriculture commodities, there was a need for the forest produce as well to ensure that the tribal people were not exploited.
To do so, the State forest departments must have the necessary infrastructure to collect and store the forest produce.
J.C. Kala, Former Director General of Forests and Secretary, Government of India, said children and youth should be involved in biodiversity conservation efforts as they were the stakeholders of tomorrow. He also said that the benefits of conservation should reach all, particularly the poor.
The challenge before conservationists was how to prevent anthropogenic interference with nature, which was always in harmony, said S. Balaji, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Director, Tamil Nadu Forest Academy, Coimbatore.
Nature even had the capability to balance itself when man tapped its resources. But when he exploited there was no way nature can recoup. The only way the exploitation could be prevented was when man gave up his greed.
Conservation efforts should be at three levels – genetic, species and ecosystem. If the last was taken care of, the first two would be automatically protected.
Mr. Balaji also stressed on the need for protecting the tribal people's rights as it had a direct bearing on conservation. “Our forefathers had been doing it for so long. We are only reinventing the wheel.”
Forests were fast losing their resilience and had reached a tipping point, said N. Krishna Kumar, Director, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding. He said conservation efforts should also extend to awareness creation among people.
S.K. Shanmugasundaram, Head, Biodiversity Division, B. Gurudev Singh, Scientist and Head, Genetics and Tree Breeding Division, spoke.
