India’s double standards on biodiversity questioned

India’s double standards on biodiversity questioned

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad: Castigating the Indian government for its double standards in conserving biological diversity and destroying forests in the name of economic growth, Greenpeace on Monday sought a moratorium on coal mining till alternative renewable sources of energy are explored.
    Dwelling upon the recommendations of a joint study report ‘Countering Coal’, readied by Greenpeace and Kalpavriksh, an India-based research and campaign organisation, the speakers at a side event of the ongoing Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) came down heavily on India for chairing the Conference of Parties -11 (CoP-11) even when the country has a bad human rights record relating to ecological conservation.
    “Today, the Indian government has two faces. The first face before the CoP supports protecting the biodiversity of the planet. And its second face -- hidden within -- encourages mass destruction of forests and forcible removal of tribals. This report is clear and unequivocal in its findings --the Indian government is presiding over one of the largest acts of human rights abuses in our history. That is a shameful stain on the integrity of the hosts of the 2012 UN conference on biodiversity,” said Samit Aich, executive director of Greenpeace India.
    While the scope of the debate was generally on the mining activities in forest land across the country, the point in case was displacement of tribal habitat in Mahan forest in Singrauali area in Madhya Pradesh where coal is being mined extensively. Tribals face threat from coal mines
Hyderabad: The scale of destruction of the forest is unprecedented, according the report, with an estimated 1.1 million hectares under threat in central India from just 13 coal fields. If India implements its expansion programme, then over 14,000 tribals will lose traditional homes and way of life in just one coal block of Mahan alone, the report says.
    Ashish Kothari, foundermember of Kalpavriksh, pointed out that while mining output in the country was going up by 4%, there is a 30% negative growth of jobs. This debunked the government’s claim that mining was providing jobs for the indigenous people, he said.
    “In its blind pursuit of economic growth, the government is undermining the ecological and livelihood security of hundreds of millions of people; the Mahan coal mining process is part of this injustice. The Forest Rights Act could provide some safeguards against this, but has not been respected,” said Kothari.

Samit Aich of Greenpeace at CoP 11