THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Striving to promote a participatory, bottom-up approach to conservation of the Western Ghats, the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) said that Kerala should serve as a role model in biodiversity conservation.
In its report submitted to the Union Ministry, the WGEEP said that for the sustainable development and ecorestoration of the Western Ghats, devolution of democratic processes should be encouraged by the Western Ghats Ecology Authority (WGEA) that will soon be set up.
“Kerala, one of the Western Ghats states, has made substantial progress in this direction and WGEA should promote the emulation of Kerala example in all the Western Ghats districts. Kerala has also taken the lead in meaningful implementation of the Biological Diversity Act through Biodiversity Management Committees,” said the report.
The WGEEP has recommended that the WGEA should take immediate steps to ensure establishment of Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC) at all levels - Gram Panchayats, Block Panchayats, Zilla Panchayats, as also Nagarpalikas and Mahanagarpalikas - in all the Western Ghats districts, as it has been done in all panchayats in Kerala.
Again, it has been suggested that the example of Udumbanchola taluk be taken up by other Western Ghat taluks for biodiversity conservation. The WGEA has also been asked to ensure that BMCs are motivated through empowerment to levy ‘collection charges’ as provided in the Biological Diversity Act.
The soon-to-be-set-up WGEA has also been asked to make a transition from regulations and negative incentives to a system where positive incentives are used to encourage continued conservation-oriented action such as sacred groves and to initiate other action in modern contexts.
``An example of the latter is the payment of conservation service charges by the Kerala Biodiversity Board to a farmer who has maintained mangrove growth on his private land,” said the report. The Kerala Forest Department had also initiated quite a few incentive-oriented conservation projects in the state.
Western Ghats being an extensive region spanning over six states, 44 districts, and 142 taluks, the WGEA would need to function in a networked fashion with six constituent State Western Ghats Ecology Authorities, appointed jointly by the State Governments and the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The State Western Ghats Ecology Authorities in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are expected to interact closely with the State Biodiversity Boards and Pollution Control Boards, as well as State Planning Departments administering the Western Ghats Development Programmes funded through Five Year Plans by the Planning Commission.
The WGEA shall develop a Western Ghats-specific master plan for the conservation of biological diversity and promotion of sustainable development. Such a master plan shall be developed with a bottom-up approach through specific village, taluk and district plans, schemes and programmes.
