Mukul cautions against creating a horrifying future for the State
By Our Reporter
Shillong: Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma pointedly asked the audience at a two-day seminar organised by the Forest Department here on Thursday, whether it is necessary for Meghalaya to exploit all mineral resources and create a fearful, uncertain future?
“Every place in Meghalaya has some mineral or the other. Should we exploit these non-renewable resources at great cost to the environment or use the renewable resources which are available in abundance?” the Chief Minister asked.
Expressing his unhappiness over the failure of the State Government to formulate rules for implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, Dr Sangma said, “Forests are important, that is why they are manned by people from a particular service. Such a huge department should have responded to the Act with urgency otherwise the very purpose of the Act is defeated. ”
Dr Sangma was delivering his inaugural address during the two-day international seminar on definition of forest and conflict resolution in the context of Meghalaya.
The Chief Minister said the provisions of the Forest Rights Act are important and should be implemented in spirit more than in the letter as the Act is relevant to the cultural milieu of Meghalaya.
Cautioning that the delay in the formulation of the rules for the Forest Rights Act is sending a negative message the Chief Minister said the rules should not be prohibitive but should facilitate livelihoods creation so that people are encouraged to take up conservation practices.
Dr Sangma also underlined the need for declaring certain areas as ‘highly sensitive ecological areas,’ adding that in these areas there would be total restriction of activities which destroy the environment.
“We can use these areas for promoting livelihood activities for the benefit of the people. Besides this, we should also try to promote preservation and conservation of the forest covers in these areas,” he suggested.
He also stressed on the need to conserve forest by giving scientific inputs to people who are the integral part of forest and to link it with their livelihood activities so that the people themselves will protect the forest as it provides them with their livelihood. “We can design technology aided livelihood activities which are dependent on forest but without actually destroying the forest,” he added.
Underlining the need to have stringent laws for protection of catchment areas, Dr Sangma said, “I am informed that the State has already formulated an Act for protection of the catchment areas. But it is useless to have such an Act if it is not implemented in right earnest.”
The Chief Minister urged upon the Forest department to engage with the Agriculture and Horticulture departments and others while trying to formulate definitions of forests so that livelihood activities structured by one department do not conflict with the Forest Department’s definition of forests.
The Chief Minister also said it is time to abandon power projects that necessitate long transmission lines but create captive power plants instead and also use biomass for generating energy (pyro-gassification). “Barren areas should be greened with bamboo, ground water depletion needs to be reversed and we have to make all-out efforts to mitigate climate change by educating people,” Dr Sangma said.
The Chief Minister said sustainable conservation must be linked to sustainable livelihoods.
Meanwhile, delivering the keynote address, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) VK Nautiyal said that as per the reports of 2005 and 2009 there is an increase in the forest cover in the State by 116 sq km. “But at the same time, there has been a decrease of 70 sq km of forest cover in East Khasi Hills district alone,” Nautiyal said.
He suggested that it is imperative for the State to adopt a clear and unambiguous definition of forests for proper identification of forest land in the State to reduce the conflict between environment and development.
Others who spoke on the occasion included Chief Secretary WMS Pariat. Forest and Environment Minister Prestone Tynsong presided over the inaugural function.