The Karnataka Biodiversity Board will soon prepare a detailed report on landslips that were reported in the Western Ghat districts – Hassan, Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, Shivamogga, and Uttara Kannada – during the rainy season in 2018 and 2019, chairman Ananth Hegde Ashisara has said.
The State government had sought a report from the board. A committee comprising senior officials of forest and revenue departments, Geological Survey of India, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, and Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre will be formed to prepare the report. The committee will visit affected districts, study reasons for landslips, and recommend remedial measures to prevent disasters, Mr. Ashisara said at a press conference on Monday.
The board will also hold consultations on conservation of agriculture biodiversity and The Seeds Bill, 2019. The opinions of stakeholders, including farmers and agriculture scientists, will be taken and a report will be submitted to the State government, he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
To ensure proper conservation and documentation of biodiversity at the gram panchayat level, a State-level training programme for members of Biodiversity Management Committees and Village Forest Committees will be held in the third week of January.
Henceforth, awareness programmes on conservation of biodiversity will be held in all gram panchayats on May 22, observed as International Day for Biological Diversity, he added.