Would you want to help protect a lake, a sacred grove of trees, or a wetland in your area? It could even be a lesser known one, but a biodiversity hotspot nonetheless. The good news is that Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board (MSBB) wants your views and information on not just such bio-rich areas needing protection, but also on threats to them as well as information about local and endangered species needing urgent conservation.
This exercise, which environmentalists are calling a wonderful opportunity to help save degrading ecosystems and protect lesser-known biodiversity hotspots, is part of the state biodiversity strategy and action plan (2018-28) to conserve Maharashtra's biodiversity.
"National parks cannot be created everywhere, but there are several spots, though small, that could play a major role ecologically. To ensure that we can map them to protect them, we are urging locals, environmentalists, naturalists, NGOs and other groups to fill us in on information about such places on a special page created on our website (http://msbsap.bvieer.edu.in/Input.php)," said Dr Erach Bharucha, Director Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research (BVIEER), Pune, which is the nodal agency appointed by MSBB to come up with the action plan.
Dr Bharucha shared that they were not just limiting the plan to regular flora and fauna, but also indigenous varieties of crops and livestock as well. "There are so many varieties of rice, jowar and bajra that were sown by farmers, but have now disappeared along with breeds of livestock. We are sending our students to various rural areas across the state and they are sending back valuable inputs," said Bharucha, adding that they were compiling the data region wise, including the Western ghats, coastal areas, the Deccan plateau and the Northern forest belt.
VK Sinha, Member Secretary of MSBB said that there were several factors that were threatening the wide range of plants and animals unique to the state, and the 10-year strategy and action plan will help create a framework for protecting the biodiversity. "Everyone has a role to play and hence, this has to be a participatory process. This is why it we decided upon inviting the views of the public. The action plan, once ready, will not only focus on protection, but will also cover all aspects of strengthening the resources to protect the biodiversity," he said.
"It will be interesting to see how the plan will be developed by the Board and what kind of recommendations and conditions will be put forward. It is important that this exercise does not simply remain a documentation, but that is used for the protection of biodiversity," said Conservationist Kedar Gore.
ACTION PLAN 2018-28
- A special page has been created on MSBB’s website (http://msbsap.bvieer.edu.in/Input.php) to gather information on biodiversity hotspots, as part of the state biodiversity strategy and action plan (2018-28) to conserve Maharashtra’s biodiversity.
