UNESCO biodiversity conservation project launched in Arunachal

Itanagar, May 25 (UNI) The multi-institutional UNESCO project 'Cultural landscapes' at North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST) sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation (USA) was launched here.

The project, launched yesterday, to link 'traditional ecological knowledge system' with the text-based 'formal knowledge system', would be implemented jointly by the UNESCO, JNU, NERIST, G B Panth Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Cultural Centre for Research and Development (CCRD) and Delhi University.

Speaking at a meeting here yesterday, JNU Prof P S Ramakrishnan said the academic institutions had failed to impart the knowledge of biodiversity conservation adding that there were paradigm differences between natural and social sciences.

Prof Ramakrishnan further asked if the academicians and scientists present, practiced inter-disciplinary approach in hilly regions.

''Have we addressed the real problem of Jhooming, a traditional practice of cultivation, that has posed a huge threat to the forest cover,'' he questioned.

The UNESCO had developed 200 young scientists, including 50 from Arunachal to facilitate cultural with natural diversity.

''Every research thesis should be converted to a policy document to take science to the society,'' he suggested.

Speaking on the occasion, UNESCO expert Ram Boohj gave a detailed account of the UN bodies' working as a knowledge platform to cultivate peace in the world.

The organisation, through its multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary approach, had been addressing the world's major concern on nature by developing 480 bio-sphere reserves across 100 countries, he said.

''As man is inseparable from nature, such reserves are considered to test sustainable development along with conservation,'' he said.

With climatic change looming large over the earth, there was an urgent need to scout traditional knowledge base for their preservation, he said.

The present project was the continuation of ongoing MacArthur project centered on Jhooming (shifting cultivation) and other land use systems in the buffer zones of Namdapha Biosphere Reserve and West Kameng landscape and strategies for linking conservation of natural resources with sustainable development, he added.

UNI