Shivaliks to be India's first interstate biosphere reserve

"This will be the first interstate biosphere reserve so far...as it will involve several states like Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttarakhand," Ramesh told reporters here today.

Biosphere Reserve is notified to protect the larger area of natural habitat, flora and fauna and human communities.This move follows a proposal from Punjab, seeking declaration of Shivalik ranges as biodiversity corridor to preserve and protect its ecosystem, he added.
He said the Shivalik had cultural and geological importance and that the area had been damaged by unregulated mining of sand and stone.

"We all know damage to Shivalik …(because of) unregulated mining of sand and stones," said Ramesh who was here  to inagurate 6th National meet on State Biodiversity Boards.
Maintaining that there would not be a complete ban on carrying out economic activity (sand or stone mining) after the notification, Ramesh said the economic activity being carried out in that area would be on sustainable basis under Environment Protection Act.
A management committee will be set up for devising biodiversity management plan to ensure sustainable economic activity in the area, Ramesh said.

However, environment minister expected that there will be a strong opposition from sand and stone miners after the setting up of Shivalik biodiversity corridor."I know there will be very strong opposition to it from sand and stone mining sector but the time has come to take this initiate forward," he said.

Ramesh also said he will hold dialogue with other states to support Punjab ’s proposal.
Earlier in the speech, Ramesh said that his ministry will soon announce elephant as National heritage animal of India to protect the same.

"We have a tiger as national animal but the elephant will be national heritage animal," he said.He further said dolphins in ganges had also been declared as national aquatic animal.

Noting that bio piracy was a serious concern in the context of biodiversity, Ramesh said that country’s resources like herbal medicine, turmeric, basmati were under threat of being patented by US and Europe.

"We are under grave threat as far as bio piracy of our resources is concerned," he said.
On the issue of basmati rice not being given Geographical Indications (GI), he said that the Centre was trying to find out a solution in consultation with Pakistan government to declare basmati rice as GI.

However, he said the Centre has set up a traditional knowledge digital library having 2 lakh formulation in Ayurveda, ‘Unani’, Yoga with an investment of Rs 10 crore to safeguard the country’s resources from being patented by other countries.
Ramesh further said that his ministry was also focusing on setting up marine biodiversity which has a coastal line of 7500 km.

The Union Minister also said Punjab has received financial assistance of over Rs 1000 crore from the Centre, which is the maximum financial support to any state in the country under the National River Conservation Programme (NRCP).

"We have provided monetary support of Rs. 1000 crore to the Punjab state in the country out of total funds of Rs. 4,000 crore under NRCP," he said.He said Centre has already cleared projects worth Rs. 504 crore for cleaning of Sutlej and Beas rivers in various districts of Punjab.There are projects worth Rs. 104 crore which are under examination of Union Environment Ministry.

"These new proposed projects are cleaning for Ghaggar river and are coming up at Rajpura, Munnat, Pathran, Dera Bassi, Lehar Ghaga and Khannouri," Ramesh said.
Besides, eight projects worth Rs. 215 crore for sewerage treatment plants had already been implemented in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Phagwara, Phillaur, Sultanpur Lodhi and Kapurthala.

Ramesh further said that his ministry has received a proposal from Punjab government for declaring 37 varieties of mangoes grown at Enami Bagh in Hoshiarpur district of the state as Biodiversity Heritage Site.

In addition to it, Punjab government has also demanded setting up of peacock breeding Centre in Bathinda district of the state.Expressing concern over the rising number of cancer patients in and around Bathinda district of Punjab, the Union Minister said that he had asked Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Central Pollution Control Board to carry out a joint study on cancer patients in and around Bathinda.

"I am aware of the heavy concentration of cancer patients in Bathinda and I have asked the ICMR and Central Pollution Control Board to conduct study in this regard and submit their repot within 3-4 months," he said.

Earlier addressing the national meet, Ramesh said that he was aware of non-disbursal of enough funds to State Biodiversity Boards for managing their activities."Centre should provide support to State Biodiversity Boards as they are not getting sufficient funds. I am also in constant touch with Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to announce a package to support these boards," he said.

Ramesh also underscored the need for assessing the impact of new techniques in farm sector on traditional crop varieties."We should know what is the impact of technology on Desi cotton due to the sowing of Bt cotton. We need to know the actual impact on traditional varieties because of new varieties coming in for sowing,” he said.