The rich natural resources available in the Western Ghats belt in the State could be preserved with the help of UNESCO heritage tag to the ghats, opined environmentalist Suresh Heblikar.
Addressing media persons, in the town on Thursday after participating in an interaction programme on the environment and UNESCO tag, he said that UNESCO tag is important to preserve the rivers, water, food, minerals, timber and other natural resources in the ghat area and save it for the future generation. In the absence of the tag, the river sources would diminish and rivers would dry up. It would lead to the mushrooming of resorts in the forest area, disturbing the biodiversity and the life of birds and animals. The destruction of plants and trees would lead to the negative impact on ozone layer.
The depletion of ozone layer would increase the heat generation and would in turn affect the human beings, warned the environmentalist.
He condemned the government for opposing the UNESCO tag to the Western Ghats.
“The State government’s report submitted to the Central government which is purely based on selfish motives, without giveing stress on the nature and rivers, is purely unscientific. It was necessary to discuss the matter with the environmentalists, study its advantages and disadvantages before preparing such a report.
The government is on the one hand evicting the forest dwellers in the name of protecting the nature, while on the other hand is objecting the UNESCO status, which is nothing but a contradiction,” he said.
Supporting the tag, he said that UNESCO will never evict any village dwellers from the forest and will only support them to lead a life in the forest along with emphasising on the protection of the ghat. The Western Ghats play a major role in maintaining the climate of Southern India. Hence, we are organising interaction programme with students to create awareness on the issue, he informed.