Shivalik Hills to be notified as inter-State biosphere reserve (Hindu 07 September 2010)

Union Minister for Environment and Forests
CHANDIGARH: Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Monday said that Shivalik Hills would be notified as the country's first inter-State biosphere reserve with the setting up of a bio-diversity corridor there to protect its natural habitat, flora and fauna.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the sixth edition of a three-day national meeting of State Bio-diversity Boards, he said the corridor would pass through Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand.
He said the Shivalik Hills had a cultural and geological importance and that the area had been damaged by unregulated mining of sand and stone. Surely the sand and stone mining mafias would protest the move but it should not be misconstrued as prohibitory; rather it was regulatory, he added.
“We will not stop mining but follow a sustainable approach towards it. There would be a monitoring committee to draft a bio-diversity plan and only then we would allow any economic activity in the area and share the fruits of these bio resources among the people,” Mr. Ramesh said.
Addressing the audience at the event he underlined the need to make optimum use of Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), Geographical Indications (GIs) and People's Bio-diversity Registers to prevent the firms and companies within the country and abroad to get our bio resources patented. “Bio-piracy, which is gradually robbing India of its precious assets and rich bio-diversity, has emerged as one of the biggest concerns before the Union Environment and Forests Ministry,” he added. “Recently the US tried to get the patent of our basmati rice with a different name and many other products of neem and haldi, of immense value, facing similar threats. Every year hundreds of patents are being granted in the US and in Europe. Therefore, to save our original products, we had established ‘traditional knowledge digital library'. We have also signed agreements with the US and European patent offices to save our intellectual property rights,” he said.
“Indian culture is not written, it is in an oral form that is conveyed from one generation to another. But modern society is based on written form. Therefore, to avoid various violations, we have started writing down that is called people bio-diversity register. States like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have already started it,” said Mr. Ramesh.