Dr Nicky calls for attitudinal change towards environment

KOHIMA, MAY 22 : Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr Nicky Kire today said though Nagaland has rich biodiversity resources with numerous rare and endangered species of plants and animals, the lack of awareness and indifferent attitude towards the environment have been responsible factors affecting the biodiversity.

He said this while speaking as the chief guest during the celebration of International Day for Biological Diversity on the theme ‘Mainstreaming biodiversity sustaining people and their livelihoods’ organized by the Nagaland State Biodiversity Board (NSBB), Department of Environment Forest and Climate Change at Khonoma Village.

Some of the factors affecting biodiversity in Nagaland as Dr Nicky pointed out are intensification of agriculture, shifting cultivation, deforestation, urbanization, hunting and poaching, wildfire, over exploitation of medicinal plants etc. However, he also appreciated that in the recent years many villages have taken up conservation initiatives in their community lands.

Citing examples of such initiatives, he said many biodiversity rich areas have been declared as reserve forests or wildlife sanctuaries in villages like Old Jalukie, Sendenyu, Tuophema, Kikruma, Khonoma, Chizami, Chantongya, Merankong, Satoi, Sukhai etc all with the initiatives of the village communities. 

Also while stating that sustainable management and harvesting biological resources can conserve biodiversity, promote environmental health and generate employment opportunities to the people, Dr Nicky said Nagaland with its rich biodiversity has tremendous potential, and natural advantage in this emerging area.

While pointing out that identification and cultivation of economically important plants can provide handsome returns to tribal, farmers, and cultivators, he said, by bringing focus on some important plants for which the state can become the bulk producer and supplier of raw materials for pharmaceutical, food, cosmetics, wood-based industry, textiles etc in the future to meet the demands of the market. 

Besides, he also said that setting up processing unit and marketing units for value added products holds great potential in boosting rural economy in Nagaland.

Dr Nicky also pointed out that though Nagaland is a natural store house for various bio-resources, it has till date not being able to realize the full potential that the sector can contribute to our economy.  This, he said due to the lack of organizational set up for coordinating the activities such as documentation of conservation, cultivation, processing and packaging  technology, marketing etc of the resources.

In this regard, he urged upon the forest department and the state biodiversity board to provide guidelines and advise any interested party in all matters related to the biological resources. He has also asked them to go ahead with documentation, conservation and utilization of biological resources in sustainable manner, and also ensure equitable sharing of benefits arising out of these resources with the stake holders to bring about access benefit sharing mechanism in the state.

Also while appreciating Old Jalukie for winning the UNDP Award for Biodiversity Conservation 2014 and the success stories of Amur Falcon Protection, Dr Nicky stressed the need to identify documents of our unique resources and preserve the genuine rights of unique flora and natural resources of Nagaland by utilizing various intellectual property rights.

Tsenchibemo Lotha, IFS (Rtd), Chairman NSBB said, the day is observed to promote biodiversity issues and spread bio-literacy among the public and the school children on the importance of biodiversity in the context of sustenance, food security, health and livelihoods and ecological implications for mankind on earth.

Stressing on the importance of the Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at the local level, Lotha said Nagaland state has notified that Biological Diversity Rules in 2011 which has legally mandated BMCs with enormous responsibility to fulfill the objectives of Biodiversity Act.

He also informed that the National Biodiversity Authority has allotted 100 BMCs to be constituted in the state, and therefore interested villages have been asked to come forward for the same.

Also speaking on how to harness biodiversity for poverty alleviation, Lotha said since Nagas are blessed with sufficient land resources and excellent topography, it is only through complementary land use planning with innovativeness in land resources utilization can alleviate the poverty. Thereby, he said it will create new livelihood opportunities which can ultimately lead to bio-happiness society.

Short speeches were also delivered by ML Rao, IFS, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest & HoFF, Dr Sapu Changkija, Member NSBB, Nihu Thur, Commissioner and Secretary, Tsilie Sakhrie, Advisor, Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary (KNCTS) trust.

As per the pamphlet handed out by NSBB, Nagaland is a part of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hot spot because of the availability of rich biological resources. Nagaland Has floral diversity of about 2400 species of angiosperms, 9 species of gymnosperms, 340 species of orchids, 22 species of bamboo, while the faunal diversity includes more than 100 spp of mammals, 400 species of birds and a number of reptiles and amphibians.