UNESCO’s World Heritage Biodiversity Programme launched in India

UNESCO’s World Heritage Biodiversity Programme in India was formally launched on 25 July, 2007, by the Honorable Minister of State, Environment and forest, Government of India, Shri Sevugan Regupathy. at a one-day workshop held in New Delhi.

The project seeks to conserve the earth’s most spectacular examples of natural and biological heritage in India, which have been identified as the World Heritage Biodiversity sites by UNESCO. The project will focus mainly on community participation in the management of the protected area and capacity building of the park management. The study area for the project will cover four World Heritage Biodiversity sites- Kaziranga and Manas in Assam, Keoladeo (also sometimes referred to as Ghana) in Rajasthan and Nanda Devi in Uttaranchal.

Speaking on the occasion the Minister thanked UNESCO for taking the initiative and assured that successful outcome of the project in the coming years would attract more funding from other donor agencies which will overcome the current financial constraint. He also applauded the idea of community participation in this project which he said would address the needs of the local community living around these sites, as also would give them a sense of belonging and responsibility for conserving them.

Director and Representative, UNESCO New Delhi, Minja Yang stressed the need to preserve the outstanding universal values of these sites and called for developing appropriate strategies for law enforcement to prevent illegal activities at these natural sites. She also encouraged involving the active participation of the private sector in the conservation and restoration process.

Mr. Kishore Rao from the World Heritage Centre, UNESCO Paris, whilst giving a brief overview of the UNESCO World Heritage Programme, mentioned that the current project would help in establishing the four selected sites as a role model which later on could be replicated at other sites. He also pointed out that one of the expected outcomes of the project would be to establish better relations with the communities living in the vicinity of these sites that would help in raising awareness among these communities related about the importance of these sites.

The Director General, Forests, Government of India, Mr. J P L Srivastava praised the excellent quality of the project proposal which helped in attracting funds for the current study. He added that the conservation of biodiversity is a daunting task and is a challenge for the scientists, researchers and the planners working in this field. He welcomed the idea of comprehensive programmes in biodiversity preservation and stressed that the outcome of the project would help in building replicable models for law enforcement, scientific management and community participation at other sites. He guaranteed full cooperation of the Forest Department for the project and was hopeful that the productive outcomes would help in overcoming the current financial shortfall by attracting new funding agencies.

The inaugural session was followed by a technical session which included two presentations, one each from ATREE (Ashoka Trust Research in Ecology and the Environment) and WII (Wildlife Institute of India) highlighting the problems faced at the selected biodiversity sites for the project and the fund allocation for the different aspects of the project. It was followed by a question and answer session and the view of the partners on the project.

• Source:UNESCO New Delhi
• 26-07-2007