The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Biodiversity Act `will curb exploitation of natural resources'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 02, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Biodiversity Act `will curb exploitation of natural resources'

Special Correspondent

India one of the few countries to enact legislation, says Raja

CHENNAI: The newly enacted Biological Diversity Rules 2004, taken with the Intellectual Property Rights Act, would ensure India's abundant natural resources were not exploited by other countries without prior permission, Union Minister for Environment and Forests, A. Raja, said.

"India was one of the first few countries to enact a legislation to achieve the objectives of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The biodiversity act will ensure that our natural resources are not exploited by other countries without our consent in the post-WTO era,'' he said in Chennai on Friday. The NBA is the national-level implementing authority for the act. The conditions for environmental mitigation spelt out by the Ministry for the implementation of the Sethusamudram ship canal project were "quite stringent'' and the Ministry would ensure that environmental monitoring was done properly. There had been an extraordinary delay by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board in forwarding to the Central Pollution Control Board the report about the public hearings held for the project, which was why the no-objection certificate from the Board was bypassed in clearing the project, he added.

"Of the Rs. 1.10 crore given by the Central government to the NBA, Rs. 45 lakh had been spent in setting up State Biodiversity Boards in States ,'' Prof. S. Kannaiyan, chairperson of the NBA said.

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