GUWAHATI:
Commemorating World Environment Day on June 5, Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi called for an urgent plan of action to lessen human impact on the environment and also for sustainable living in harmony with nature.
“Celebrations of World Environment Day are very important as they give us an opportunity to reflect and renew our pledge towards our environment. Our environment is subjected to unthinkable pressures. Because of our own actions, the climate is heating up too quickly for people and nature to adapt to it. Habitat loss and other pressures put several species under the threat of extinction. Pollution is another threat to our environment,” he said, during the celebrations at Assam Biotech Park at Amingaon in Guwahati.
Mukhi spoke about how celebrating environment day would encourage awareness among all stakeholders and the public in general to champion the cause of the environment and garner political patronage.
The Assam Governor said that the answer to this problem would be to transform society to make it more inclusive, fair, and connected with nature. He also said that the order of the day is to shift human actions from harming the environment to healing it.
He said that as a part of the action plan to reverse environmental degradation, the Assam government is strengthening the people-forest interface and encouraging people’s participation in forestry and wildlife management. Mukhi also said that in this contest, the Assam Forest Department has also involved the forest fringe villagers and eco-development committees to address environment-related concerns.
The governor further said that the state government has committed itself to bring out development in synergy with nature, and therefore, along with creating an ecosystem of industrialisation, the government laid emphasis on creating new forest reserves. In this context, he informed that the government has announced two new national parks namely, Dehing Patkai and Raimona National Parks.
He also said that in the last five years, the state government had implemented several programmes for the conservation and protection of forests and wildlife in the state. During this period, 10,353 hectares of land were brought under plantation. Further works are in progress to enhance the quality of forests by raising plantations on 12,510 hectares of land under the Assam project on forest and biodiversity conservation and 1784 hectares of plantation under CAMPA.
State forest minister Parimal Suklabaidya, who also spoke on the occasion, said there has been a rise in wildlife population and the green cover in the state following a host of initiatives to protect the environment.
In his address, Assam Pollution Control Board chairman Arup Kumar Misra said the World Environment Day has to be observed not only on June 5 but also throughout the year.
Kamrup deputy commissioner Kailash Kartik N said Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Union minister for education Dharmendra Pradhan jointly launched the ‘Shyamolima Kamrup’ (Verdant Kamrup) scheme under which 30 lakh saplings will be planted within three years.
PCCF cum HoFF, MK Yadava, who also spoke about the importance and significance of World Environment Day, felicitated noted nature conservationist, Dr Purnima Devi Barman on the occasion.
Along with planting saplings to mark the day, prizes were also given to the winners of the painting competition organised by the environment and forest department and Pollution Control Board on the occasion of World Environment Day.