Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Benoy Viswom to attend Forest Ministers’ meet

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Forest Minister Benoy Viswom will leave for Bangalore on Thursday afternoon to participate in the two-day conference of forest ministers of southern States. The conference will discuss, among other things, joint action to check encroachments, illegal felling of trees, sandalwood smuggling, ganja cultivation and poaching.

The conference will also work out protocols for combined action for management of trans-border areas. Removal of restriction on inter-State transport of certain forest species such as eucalyptus will also be considered at the conference. The other issues to be discussed at the conference include management of forest fires, implementation of Central Act on Scheduled Tribes, use of funds for compensatory afforestation and related issues.

The conference will also consider establishment of a secretariat for implementation of the resolutions adopted at the conference. It would also review progress in implementing the decisions taken at the last conference held in November last year.

The decisions included the setting up of a cell within the Forest Departments of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for strengthening inter-State cooperation and adoption of joint strategies to prevent forest crimes. The conference decided to strengthen communication network between forest divisions in inter-State borders and develop combined action plans for managing trans-border resources such as biosphere reserves, national parks and tiger reserves. Karnataka Governor T.N. Chaturvedi will inaugurate the conference. However, Mr. Viswom will leave for Bangalore only after the conclusion of the Assembly session on Thursday. He will attend the deliberations slated to begin at 6 p.m.

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