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A plan for life
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The first draft of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan was the focus of a debate in Delhi recently. People need to know that the NBSAP is open for review and feedback, say ASHISH KOTHARI and KANCHI KOHLI.
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The NBSAP is a way to ensure that our dreams for the environment are realised.
If life is diverse, so are the opinions on it. If threats are looming large on existence, so are the efforts to counter it. If nature has been forgotten somewhere, there is always a celebration to compensate.
IT was this diversity of life, more technically called biodiversity, which was the topic of discussion at a four-day workshop held in New Delhi, from December 20-23, 2002. Over 150 scientists, activists, researchers, farmers and government officials came together to debate on the first draft of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), which was opened for public review in October 2002.
For the past three years, the NBSAP has attempted to follow a decentralised planning process in preparing a series of biodiversity strategy-and-action plans. About 70 plans have been drafted — for local sites, all states and union territories, interstate eco-regions, and themes of national importance — by teams comprising government officials, community members, NGOs, academics, and people from many other sectors. In the last six-eight months the 15-member Technical and Policy Core Group, set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), and coordinated by an NGO, Kalpavriksh, has built upon these to put together the first draft of the National Action Plan (NAP). Funded by United Nation Development Programme (UNDP)/Global Environment Fund (GEF), this large planning exercise has been administered by Biotech Consortium India Ltd (BCIL).
In the same spirit of decentralisation, feedback on the NAP first draft is being requested from as many people as possible — from those centrally involved in the process to those who wrote in saying they wanted to participate and many others who would have contributions to make. The workshop was an attempt to obtain such feedback.
The NBSAP national plan draft recommends a series of bold measures to ensure that the country's ecological security is assured, and that the livelihoods of the millions of people dependent on biological resources are also secured. Broadly put, they call for a major re-orientation of the process of economic development and of governance of natural resources, including the health of the environment (especially critical ecosystems and wildlife habitats), and livelihood of biomass-dependent communities. These need to become central to all planning, and such local communities that are central to decision-making for the country.
To achieve the above, the NBSAP has developed several strategies along with suggested responsibilities for the same. The tasks to take these forward were suggested to various ministries including the MoEF, NGOs, academicians, people's groups and, of course, local communities in villages and towns.
The protection of traditional knowledge on biodiversity is crucial in an era where patenting and genetic modification have become the reality. If not respected, revitalised, and protected, traditional knowledge can fall prey to biopiracy ... as has repeatedly happened in the last few decades. Age-old knowledge of farmers or forest dwellers can slip through their hand, without them having a clue. In one of its strategies the NBSAP suggests traditional knowledge be protected through various methods, including through community-led development of biodiversity knowledge registers. It is important not to fall into the trap of privatised intellectual property rights like patents.
In another section, the national plan goes on to suggests that genetically engineered or modified organisms and products should not be introduced till the following are ensured: long-term ecological and social studies by independent agencies, full disclosure of risks to users and consumers, the full participation of key stakeholders in decision-making including in the relevant government research and regulatory bodies, and a process of nation-wide consultation.
At another level, there are issues of pure conservation as well, where it is important to expand and strengthen the network of conservation sites for wild animals and plants. This would include official protected areas like national parks and sanctuaries, community conserved areas (like sacred sites community forests and village tanks), Biosphere Reserves, Ecologically Sensitive Areas, Heritage Sites, Medicinal Plant Conservation Areas, coral reefs and mangroves.
There is a range of suggestions for domesticated biodiversity (badly neglected in previous national processes), including that of promoting indigenous, nutritionally superior food crops such as coarse millets in the Public Distribution System, mid-day meal schemes, Food for Work programme, and other such public sector programmes. The draft also details an implementation and monitoring mechanism for all its strategies and actions, linking them to the Biological Diversity Bill, recently passed in the Parliament. All these steps, of course, will be pointless if the threats to biodiversity as a whole are not tackled, policies and laws don't support the efforts and there is no strong political will to back it up. Capacities need to be built, issues need to be researched in-depth. They too should and will find a place in the NAP.
The Delhi workshop discussed all this from the 500-page draft national action plan, and more. Various new dimensions were added, and modifications were recommended. There is a need for people to make this their plan, to demand that their say is reflected. And push that this does not become just another document.
Ashish Kothari is the coordinator and Kanchi Kohli is a member of the Technical and Policy Core Group of the NBSAP. Both are members of Kalpavriksh Environmental Action Group.
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