Inter Basin Water Transfer Link Project of India

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"The country’s biodiversity and socio-economic situation would be adversely affected"  -Environment and Forest Minister Shahjahan Siraj

Staff Correspondent
The Daily Observer
Thursday, March 25, 2004

The government will set up a special cell on WTO and Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) at the Environment and Forest Ministry to examine implications of the provisions of WTO regarding use and marketing of medicinal plants in future.

This was announced by Environment Secretary Syed Tanveer Hussain at the inaugural session of a workshop on “Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan” on Wednesday.

Environment and Forest Minister Shahjahan Siraj said, “The country’s biodiversity and socio-economic situation would be adversely affected if India withdraws the water-flow in the up-stream of the common rivers by implementing its ambitious River Inter-linking Scheme.”

 “We have to create mass awareness on importance of biodiversity and ecosystems,” he told the workshop, organised by International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) at BIAM auditorium in the city.

Shahjahan Siraj said the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan  (NBSAP) has been developed to fulfil the commitment of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), signed in Reo-de-Jeneiro in 1992, and to establish the right of the future generation to come.

He laid emphasis on giving institutional shape to the biodiversity conservation programme through the active participation of both indigenous and local people.

UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Larry Maramis, IUCN Bangladesh Country Representative Dr Ainun Nishat and Project Director of the NBSAP Monowar Islam also spoke at the inaugural session with Environment Secretary Syed Tanveer Hussain in the chair.

The UNDP Representative said biodiversity is linked with livelihood and healthcare. “So, it needs to be linked with development activities for poverty alleviation, sustainable development and conservation of nature.”

Presenting the draft document, Dr Ainun Nishat elaborated the 13 strategies that have been worked out in the NBSAP. The strategies include biodiversity documentation and valuation, conservation of ecosystems, species and genetic pool, restoration of ecosystem and recuperation of endangered species, biosafety procedures and standards to deal with Alien Invasive Species and Genetically Modified Organisms.

About 200 participants including teachers, journalists, professionals, development workers, government and non-government officials on the draft document of NBSAP, the preparation of which began in October 2002.

The government with the support from UNDP and Global Environmental Facility (GEF) undertook the task of developing of the NBSAP for the country. The draft will be finalised in next three months incorporating the inputs given by the participants of the workshop. 

Source: The Daily Observer

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