Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

Arunachal celebrates World Environment Day

By Correspondent

ITANAGAR, June 5 - The hilly State of Arunachal Pradesh today celebrated World Environment Day (WED) with a slew of programmes.

To mark the Day, the Department of Environment and Forests organised a brainstorming session here on �Go Wild for Life - Zero Tolerance for Illegal Wildlife Trade�, which was the theme of this year�s WED celebration as decided by the United Nations.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Principal Secretary (Environment & Forests) GN Sinha gave an account of the historical perspective on evolution of forest, wildlife, environmental laws and judicial activism and outlined the contributions made by former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi for enactment of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

The session, attended by senior officers and field officials of the department stationed in Itanagar, deliberated on many issues ranging from provisions enshrined in the Constitution for protection of environment, forest & wildlife; provisions to be invoked for booking wildlife offence cases, regulation of arms licences in and around the Protected Areas; establishing quick response teams for the rescue of wild animals, one each in Itanagar and Naharlagun.

DCF, Wildlife, Koj Rinya stressed the need for establishment of tribunals for wildlife offences in the lines of National Green Tribunal for quick and effective disposal of cases.

The department also decided to have many outreach programmes and activities for eliciting the support of the local communities and traditional rights holders in ensuring that there is no illicit trade in wildlife.

At Raj Bhavan, Governor JP Rajkhowa along with his wife Rita Rajkhowa, officers and staff planted saplings, including fruit-bearing trees, in the Raj Bhavan complex to commemorate the Day.

In his message, the Governor opined the environment is degrading very fast due to global warming, uncontrolled felling of trees and all kind of activities.

He called upon the people to plant more and more trees. He said, with the total population of around 16 lakhs in the State now, if each family plant a tree, there will be increase of three to four lakh plants in the State and in the same line, with the total population of 125 crore in India, if each family plant one sapling, there will be increase of 25 crore plants in the country.

Next Story