Researchers raise Goa's environmental concerns at conference

Panaji, Feb 22: Various environmental issues concerning Goa were highlights of a recently held international conference in Kochi where researchers discussed the ecological threats faced by the tourist coastal state.

Experts from various colleges, including Government College Khandola and Ponda Education Society's College in Goa, presented papers on issues like pollution in river Mandovi and on environmental challenges in the state.

The fifth international conference on Ecotoxicology and Environmental Sciences was held in Kochi between February 15-17 and was attended by over 150 delegates from the world.

"The lack of environment awareness and education at various levels, coupled with a rigid mindset in certain sections of society and a lack of responsibility by the government for the environment appears to be the major constraints in handling the issues," Flory Pereira, Department of Microbiology at Ponda Education Society College in Ponda town said in her paper presented in the conference.

Pereira had presented a case study on environmental challenges in Goa. "Core issues of environment such as control of pollution like air, water and noise and waste management are plaguing Goa," she said in her presentation.

Pereira pointed out that on the waste disposal front there are challenges to do away with municipal solid waste, industrial hazardous waste, bio-medical waste, electronic waste, plastic waste, construction and demolition waste and mining waste.

"The effective management of such wastes assumes significance for the sustainability of this tourist paradise," she said. Besides these issues, some villages in Goa are also still found lacking in sanitation and they are not completely open-defecation, urination and spit-free, she said.

"When we pollute the environment, changes are likely to occur as it adjusts itself resulting in disastrous consequences like degradation of the environment, flooding and global warming, just to mention a few," Pereira said.

In a study about river Mandovi, researchers from Department of Microbiology, Government College Khandola have confirmed that the waterbody is polluted.

PTI