Bengaluru: The Karnataka Biodiversity Board has given 22 recommendations to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai ahead of the State budget, seeking his attention and budgetary support for issues concerning forests, the environment, and climate change.
According to sources, Anant Hegde Ashisar, the Chairman of the board has presented the Chief Minister with a document detailing the issues that need to be addressed by various departments on priority. A group of eight members, including Ashisar, drafted the recommendations.
The board emphasised the importance of conducting an extensive study of the Western Ghats in order to prevent landslides in the coming years. The forest and revenue agencies must work together to protect the deemed forests, which are being destroyed due to encroachment, according to the report. The forest department should also put an end to monoculture plantations, that have impacted biodiversity.
To ensure the state meets its sustainable development goals, the committee has recommended that the rural development and forest departments strengthen village committees for the protection of local forests and biodiversity. The revenue department should also put an end to the encroachment of tanks and lakes across the State, particularly in rural areas. It further said that a specific plan for the protection of waterbodies should be developed.
Other recommendations included afforestation to prevent coastal erosion, river protection, solar fences to reduce man-animal conflict, recognition and declaration of more wildlife corridors, and the ban of the sale of banned pesticides.
