From ashishkothari@VSNL.COM Sun Jan 2 14:27:44 2005
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 16:31:13 +0530
From: Ashish Kothari
To: nathistory-india@Princeton.EDU
Subject: Press Release on International Biological Diversity Day
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Dear friends, pl. see below, a press release issued on the occasion of
International Day on Biological Diversity, relating to the campaign on
the Biodiversity Act and Rules.
Ashish
Ashish Kothari
Kalpavriksh - Environment Action Group
Apt. 5 Shree Datta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune 411004, India
Tel: 91-20-25675450
Tel/fax: 91-20-25654239
Email: ashishkothari@vsnl.com (or ashish@nda.vsnl.net.in)
---------------------------------
PRESS RELEASE ON
INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
29th December 2004
CALL TO STRENGTHEN COMMUNITY CONTROL OVER BIODIVERSITY
Appeal to the Minister for Environment and Forests
to Keep His Word
On the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity, over
200 village panchayats, along with people^Ņs movements and NGOs from
across India, have urged the Central Government to fully recognise the
role of communities in the management and conservation of biodiversity.
This citizen^Ņs campaign demands that Government facilitate greater
powers for community control over biodiversity, by making appropriate
changes in the Biological Diversity Act and Rules. It also reiterates the
commitment of these panchayats and organisations in doing all they can,
to conserve biodiversity and protect traditional knowledge relating to
biodiversity.
Representatives of panchayats and organisations had gathered for a rally
in Delhi on 8th December, and met the Minister for Environment and
Forests A. Raja on 9th December, to present a Memorandum with these
demands. Today, on the occasion of World Biodiversity Day, they would
like to urge the Minister to act on the commitment he made during this
meeting to respect community rights and responsibilities regarding
biodiversity.
Following the coming into force of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002,
the Biological Diversity Rules were notified in April 2004. The Act
establishes a regulatory system for the conservation and use of
biological resources and knowledge. However many panchayats and NGOs feel
that the Rules which give very limited powers to communities, severely
restricting their decision-making on local resources therebyadversely
affecting life and livelihoods. The Rules were also seen as dilution of
the Act, especially by undermining the role of communities in
biodiversity conservation. To mark their opposition, over 200 panchayats
from Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Uttaranchal
passed resolutions rejecting the Rules and asking for a different set of
Rules that respected the central role of village communities. They were
joined in this demand by the People^Ņs Alliance for Livelihood Rights,
Gene Campaign, Kalpavriksh, Green Foundation, Parivartan, Navrachna,
Deccan Development Society, Beej Bachao Andolan, Delhi Forum, and Centre
for World Solidarity.
Prior to the 8th December Rally, a number of meetings and discussions
took place and letters were written to concerned authorities. Letters
were also written to Members of Parliament to intervene, as the notified
Rules have to be placed in the Parliament for a period of thirty days
during which period changes can be made.
The Memorandum presented to the Minister demands that:
"the Rules notified by MoEF be called back and a new participatory
consultative process be started at the community level, in order to
protect peoples^Ņ biodiversity rights and guarantee participation in
decision making. In particular, the process should involve widespread
consultation with village communities, NGOs, and independent experts and
provide for at least the following:
1. Full rights and powers to panchayat raj institutions to manage their
natural and agricultural surrounds;
2. Full legal protection to traditional knowledge including whatever is
documented in Community Biodiversity Registers;
3. Transparent and stringent procedures that govern access to biological
resources and knowledge by foreign and industrial entities;
4. Clear provisions for conservation of threatened ecosystems, species,
and genetic varieties, with the full involvement of relevant
communities."
The Minister and the Joint Secretary in charge had a detailed discussion
with 10 community and NGO representatives from various states. While
attempting to put apprehensions at rest, Shri Raja assured that the
rights of the communities will be protected so far as the Biodiversity
Act is concerned.
With the International Day for Biological Diversity coming up, the
organisations once again wrote to the Minister (see attached letter)
restating the major concerns and demands, and requesting action on his
assurances. Simultaneously, several other communities across India,
including several in Maharashtra, Uttaranchal, Himachal, and other
states, are discussing gram panchayat resolutions on the Biodiversity Act
and Rules, to be sent to the Government of India.
[IMAGE]
Ashish Kothari, Kalpavriksh, Pune/Delhi
P.V. Satheesh, Deccan Development Society, Andhra Pradesh
Gautam Bandopadhyay, People^Ņs Alliance for Livelihood Rights,
Chhattisgarh
Contact:
Ashish Kothari, Pune, 020-25675450; ashishkothari@vsnl.com
Kanchi Kohli, Kalpavriksh, Delhi, 29221379, kanchi@hathway.com
Gautam Bandopadhyay, PALR, Raipur, 9826171304
P.V. Satheesh, DDS, Hyderabad, 040-27764577, 08451-282271 (Pastapur)
---------------------------------------------
(annex)
Shri A. Raja
Minister for Environment and Forests
Paryavaran Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodi Estate
New Delhi 110003
25 December, 2004
Sub: Biodiversity Act and NBSAP, Follow up to Meeting with Minister for
E&F
Dear Shri Raja,
Thank you for meeting us with regard to the Biodiversity Act and Rules,
and the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), on 9th
December, 2004. As we had mentioned, we were representing over 200 gram
panchayats of several states, whose resolutions rejecting the
Biodiversity Rules 2004 were handed over to you by us on that day. You
would have also learnt that the previous day, over 250 participants from
these panchayats, and supporting organisations, had come to Delhi for a
public rally on the issue.
We would like to record here our discussion with you and with Jt.
Secretary D.D. Verma, and the assurances we were given:
1. You assured the community representatives that their rights will
be protected so far as the Biodiversity Act is concerned. The role of
conservation, sustainable use, and equitable benefit-sharing
specified in the Act for Biodiversity Management Committees (and
thereby for local communities) would be fully respected, and the role
would not be limited to only or primarily that of preparing
Biodiversity Registers (as envisaged by the Biodiversity Rules 2004).
2. You assured that additional rules or detailed guidelines would be
issued to clarify the expanded role and powers of local communities
through Biodiversity Management Committees. These guidelines should
take into account the apprehensions of communities.
3. You also assured that the implementation of the Act, and the
drafting of further guidelines or rules, would be participatory in
ways that the MoEF would find appropriate.
4. You directed the Jt Secy present, to take the community
apprehensions regarding the Biodiversity Act and Rules into account.
5. You also directed the Jt. Secy to inform us as to the status of
the NBSAP document, and to involve us in its finalisation.
As you would recall, we described our concerns about the Rules and the
Act, and urged that any further process relating to these must be fully
participatory. While you were not willing to specify a mechanism for
ensuring a consultative process, you did assure that it would be
participatory and would ensure that community rights were not violated.
You would also recall that we urged that the Biodiversity Act be
implemented in the spirit of the panchayat raj constitutional amendment
and related legislation, to ensure that there is community control over
their natural and biological resources and knowledge.
Finally, we would urge that the provision of protection of traditional
knowledge, which is part of the Biodiversity Act, be made operational
immediately through appropriate Rules or guidelines. At present this is
only a framework provision, with no mechanism for implementation. This
could give rise to the serious situation of village communities preparing
People^Ņs Biodiversity Registers with no legal protection being given to
these registers, which would only make it easier for biopiracy to take
place.
Meanwhile, we would like to record that more and more gram panchayats are
expressing concern about the Biodiversity Rules, and passing resolutions
on these, which we will keep forwarding to you. In this light, we hope
that the above assurances and requests would be urgently acted upon by
MoEF.
Thanking you, Sincerely,
(Ashish Kothari)
Kalpavriksh
on behalf of the undersigned representatives of panchayats, and People^Ņs
Alliance for Livelihood Rights (Chhattisgarh), Navrachna (Himachal),
Deccan Development Society (Andhra), Beej Bachao Andolan (Uttaranchal),
and Parivartan (Chhattisgarh)