Environmentalists call for an action plan for NE

Aizwal, Oct 22: Languid enforcement of regulations are causing serious damage to the environment, life and culture of the Northeast region and an Environmental Management Action Plan (EMAP) should be drawn immediately, a senior official said.

Emphasising the strict enforcement of environmental regulations and awareness, motivation and sensitisation of the stakeholders, Dr V Bhanumurthy, of the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) told UNI that a charter of recommendations has already been sent to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, Ministry for DoNER, Northeastern Council (NEC) besides all eight state governments of the region urging immediate implementation, while referring to an all India seminar on Environmental Management in Developing Countries' held at Agartala last month.

Advocating using remote sensing satellites for environmental monitoring, conservation of environment and disaster management, he said efforts were needed for development of village resource centre through effective management information system (MIS).

''Serious environmental degradation has already taken place due to industrialisation, urbanisation, environmental misuse and corruption and environmental impact assessment of hot-spot areas need to be carried out immediately for drawing up an Environmental Management Action Plan (EMAP) for the region,'' Dr Bhanumurthy said.

Stressing upon the managment of natural resources and ecosystem, he said biodiversity conservation was linked to poverty alleviation and socio-economic growth of the region.

He informed that about 20 experts from differnt fields including North Eastern Regional Institute of Water and Land Management (NERIWALM), North Eastern Space Applications Centre and Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre have strongly recommended diverse plantations, social forestry and greenery development involving all the stakeholders.

They also urged the universities and academic institutions of the region to carry out research for generic modification of seeds which sustain higher temperature with less water for better agricultural products following global warming that is affecting the production of crops, causing increased loss of water due to evaporation besides other climatic odds.

They called for wastelands reclamation for cultivation of 'Jatropha' for production of eco-friendly bio-diesel. The experts said that despite rich natural resources and biodiversity, lack of socio-economic development of the majority of the NE states has adversely impacted the environment.

They demanded implementation of the action programmes undertaken for addressing land use and management, restoration of environmental damages, conservation of natural resources and ecology and involvement of the community.

Sharing Dr Bhanumurthy's views Dr R P Vajpai, Vice Chancellor of Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, also expressed concerned over water scenario of NE region and stated, ''More efforts are to be extended on water-shed management and rain water harvesting in the region, as often people suffer from bacterial as well as chemical contamination of water.

''Majority of urban centres of the country are suffering due to lack of waste water management and therefore, ecologically balanced waste water treatment system could be drawn up for most of the urban centres as it utilises solar energy for treatment and stabilisation of organic pollutants,'' Dr Vajpai opined, adding that rain water harvesting, recharging of acquifiers and top soil conservation may be given priority as a strategy for environmental management in the NE region.

UNI