KEIBUL LAMJAO, March 16 � Manipur�s environmentalists have demanded a policy for the conservation of the rare brow-antlered deer or Sangai and it�s habitat Keibul Lamjao, the country�s only floating national park.
Dr RK Ranjan Singh, State coordinator of Bombay Nature Historical Society (BNHS) raised the demand while speaking at a day-long media sensitisation workshop for wildlife conservation here at Keibul Lamjao, around 50 km south of Imphal in Bishnupur district today.
The noted environmentalist also urged the concerned authorities to undertake immediate necessary steps for eco-restoration for the threatened animal by making a vision 2020.
�Keibul Lamjao National Park should be given the status of world heritage site besides initiating a forum for people, public and government to mobilise and sensitise the general population on the endangered species and other flora and fauna of the park�, he added.
Another prominent environmentalist Dr Kh Shamungou Singh while speaking on environment awareness through media said, �If the exploitation rate of our environment continues in the present trend, 50 per cent of the State�s existing biodiversity resources may disappear�.
Dr Shamungou informed that alien biological species including exotic fish species have started to replace the endemic fishes of the State which has more than 230 species.
The environmentalists also urged the concerned officials to do the needful to control the smuggling of orchids and ginseng varieties available in the hills of Manipur to China through the porous Indo-Myanmar border.
�We are informed that some villagers in Chandel have been selling locally grown orchids to China through Myanmar�, Dr Ranjan said. This commonly available Dendrobium family orchids were used for making a beer in China. This orchid variety was grown wild in some hill ranges of Chandel district bordering Myanmar.
There are also reports of smuggling of some medicinal plants including three ginseng varieties to China for making medicines, Ranjan added though he did not specify the orchid variety.
