BANGALORE:Officials from the State Forest, Ecology and Environment Department still seem to be apprehensive whether to allow UNESCO to declare Western Ghats as World Heritage Site. This was evident at the review meeting held on Thursday in the city.The meeting was attended by Jagdish Kishwan, Additional Director General (Wildlife), Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF), the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and members of civil society.According to an official source from the State Forest Department, the officials are apprehensive that once the Western Ghats is declared as UNESCO World Heritage Site they will be debarred from undertaking any developmental work and the State Government will have no authority to maintain the integrity and biodiversity of the Western Ghats.Early this year after receiving severe setback, the United Nations committee had postponed its decision to declare Western Ghats as UNESCO World Heritage Site to 2012, and had asked the government to furnish more information.India had nominated 39 sites in the Western Ghats, a unique hot spot of biodiversity. However, Karnataka ,one of the four States where the Ghats are located ran a campaign against the World Heritage tag, arguing that it could protect its own forests and claimed that the tag would prevent development work to help forest dwellers.Speaking to Express, Additional Director General (wildlife), MOEF Jagdish Kishwan said, “we tried to explain the officers that the World Heritage Committee (WHC) has already chalked out a working plan for the 39 sites and they are under the legal framework. So Karnataka should not have a problem. The officers in the State have been convinced.”
Comments
0 comment