http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/21/stories/2010012155090800.htm
*State to organise meet on GM crops *Special Correspondent *Focus on ‘GM-free India’ * ------------------------------ * Agriculture, Forest Ministers of all States being invited Meet scheduled on February 2 and 3 * ------------------------------ KOCHI: The Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) is organising a national brainstorming session on genetically modified (GM) crops on February 2 and 3 to harness opinion of all the States with a view to stamping out GM foods from the country. Agriculture and Forest Ministers of all the States as well as heads of State Biodiversity Boards are being invited to the national workshop. V.S. Vijayan, director of KSBB, said the workshop would chart out an action plan for a ‘GM-free India.’ The State government, with the board’s prodding, has declared that GM crops, including Bt cotton and Bt brinjal would not be let into Kerala. The workshop will kick off the board’s activities relating to the celebration of the International Year of Biodiversity. The United Nations declared 2010 as the Biodiversity Year to focus global attention on the need to conserve biodiversity and raise awareness of the increasing threat to biodiversity. Biodiversity is the chain of life that connects all living things — Earth is home to as many as 13 million different living species, including humans and bacteria. This incredible natural wealth is the foundation of human well-being. The systems and processes these millions of species collectively provide produce food, water and air to humans. Wetlands purify water and offer protection against floods; mangroves protect coasts and their populations by reducing the damage caused by storms and tsunamis; and coral reefs provide breeding grounds for fish. Hence, loss of forests, soils, wetlands and coral reefs has direct impact on human life. But Earth is losing this diversity at a rapidly accelerated rate. If current loss rates continue, it is expected that an area of 1.3 billion hectares worldwide – about 1.5 times the size of USA – will completely lose its original biodiversity levels by 2050. This loss is compounded by climate change, which could result in the disappearance of more than a third of all known species. Humans are largely responsible for this accelerated loss. The celebration of International Year of Biodiversity is an attempt to stall this accelerated loss. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix?hl=en.
