E-Paper
Ecology degradation leading to poverty
?The ECOLOGICAL system of the mountains is on the decline due to increasing human activities, climate variations and other external and internal factors. This has led to an increase in poverty in these regions,? said Dr Eklavya Sharma of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (Kathmandu, Nepal).
“The ECOLOGICAL system of the mountains is on the decline due to increasing human activities, climate variations and other external and internal factors. This has led to an increase in poverty in these regions,” said Dr Eklavya Sharma of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (Kathmandu, Nepal).
Dr Sharma was delivering a lecture on ‘Advances in Participatory Biodiversity Management in the Hindukush range’ on the second day of the national seminar on ‘Environment Management in 21st Century: Issues and Challenges’ at the Department of Botany, BHU, on Friday.
“The environmental services provided by these natural assets are the basis for physical security of people living in these areas and it ensures the sustainability of their production system,” he said.
Some eminent examples of promoting institutional, technological and policy innovations for participatory management of natural resources for biological sustainability in the Hindukush region were joint forest management in India and community forestry in Nepal, he added.
“These are further strengthened by enterprise-based community involved in biodiversity conservation where medicinal plants, non-timber forest produce and eco-tourism have brought substantial benefits to the locals that provide incentives for conservation,” Dr Sharma said.
He added that trans-boundary landscape development for conservation by involving local communities strengthening connectivity of protected areas between various countries in the eastern Himalayas was evolving as a model for the region.
Dr Sharma said these initiatives provided opportunities for local and regional benefits that addressed both sustainable use of biological resources and global conservation goals.
In the technical session, Dr GS Rawat of Wildlife Institute of India (Dehradun) delivered a lecture on ‘Management and Restoration of Tropical Eco-systems in Theory and Practice’.
Dr Vikram Kaushal and Dr AK Gupta of the Wildlife Institute of India (Dehradun) presented their papers on ‘Developing Strategies to Control and Mitigate Monkey Menace’.
Prof BD Tripathi of the Department of Botany conducted the seminar.
