pro-poor, pro-nature & pro-women.
Note
on the Symposium
| National Symposium on |
| "Biodiversity, Agricultrure and Nutritional Security" |
| jointly organised by the National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad and M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai |
| India is endowed with a rich biodiversity. Indian biodiversity, over a period of time, particularly during the last 50 years, is being put under increasing pressure from burgeoning human population and consequent development needs. The manner in which these development needs is being addressed has been causing unsustainable use of bio-resources or loss and endangerment of ecosystems, species and genetic diversity. Absence of conservation measures commensurate with the genetic erosion of agro-biodiversity occurring at alarming rate is a cause for profound concern in sustaining the food, nutrition, health and livelihood security of future generations. |
| Agro-biodiversity alone can offer the crucial raw material important for improving the productivity and quality of crops, livestock and fish in perpetuity. Until recent years more than few thousands of species and many thousands of varieties were cultivated to meet human food and nutritional needs. This genetic diversity has drastically been declined with advancement in crop productivity to cope up with population increase. Only few dozen species and varieties are now widely grown under agriculture. We depend today on three major cereal crops, rice, wheat and maize to meet about 60 % of our calorie need. This process of narrowing food basket base at species and variety components, is nudging out many traditional varieties and life-saving crops like tubers, millets and legumes. Underutilization of these crops not only deprives us from their nutritional advantage, but also causes the loss of their genetic diversity and the traditional knowledge associated with their cultivation and use. |
| With the modern genetic recombinant technology we are bio-fortifying commercially important crops, while allowing unchecked loss of nutritious millets, many tropical fruits, tubers like sweet potato and many leafy and other vegetable crops, which are natural sources for high bio-available vitamins and micronutrients. It is also uncertain whether the accessibility to genetically engineered bio-fortified crops would be as easy and as cheap as the these traditional nutritious crops, particularly to the vulnerable sections of population like infants, pregnant mothers and invalids. Rural women, who take care of the household nutritional security largely depending on local bio-resources and traditional knowledge are finding these resources are rapidly disappearing. |
| There is also little appreciation of the complementary role of better nutrition in fighting pandemics like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, along with drug-based approach. We are also ignoring the profound feed back relationship between agro-biodiversity and cultural diversity. Thus, the biodiversity and its components being used in agriculture have multi-functional role in our culture and well-being apart from its strong linkages with ecology, economics and nutrition. |
| The recent national legislations on biodiversity and the ingression of IPR on living forms are making significant changes to the traditional conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity practiced by our rural and tribal communities. The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 aims to strengthen the conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components and to ensure a fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of biological resources and associated knowledge. India now has a National Biodiversity Authority to enforce this legislation. Equally important is the apprehensions in public mind on the governance of national biodiversity, its adverse impact on the livelihood of the poor and future nutritional security of the country. While we continue to boast on our biodiversity wealth, we are frittering it away without adequate enforcement or plugging the loopholes of existing legal framework and effectively involving local communities and public as important partners for facilitating conservation of biodiversity at ecosystem, species and genetic diversity levels and its sustainable use. Only under this partnership the equitable benefit sharing would promote the role of communities in conservation and enrichment of bio-resources and associated traditional knowledge. |
| Another national legislation, the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001, is established to grant a sui generis kind of intellectual property right called plant breeder's right on plant varieties with concurrent protection of farmers' rights. A unique feature of this legislation is that it recognizes farmers as cultivators, conservers of plant genetic diversity, and breeders engaged in economic enhancement of plant genetic resources. Very recently, almost four years after the legislation, Government of India has instituted the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority with intent to implement this law. |
| These existing national institutions on biodiversity and related national legislations had emerged from the dedicated contributions of many eminent environmentalists, scientists and administrators. The late Dr. Triloki Nath Khoshoo, who served as the Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, Government of India and the Director of the National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, was a renowned environmentalist credited with signal contributions. Dr Khoshoo made many original research contributions in diverse areas of biodiversity. Among his books, 'Mahatma Gandhi: An Apostle of Applied Human Ecology', is widely applauded. Among the many recognitions received by Dr Khoshoo, the Sasakawa Environmental Prize from the United Nation's Environmental Program deserves special mention. Leaving a blazing trail of productive career spanning half century, Dr. Khoshoo passed away on June 10, 2002. This National symposium is dedicated to the memory of this eminent environmentalist. |
| It is being organized jointly by the National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad and M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai on 6th December 2005 with the following objectives: |
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| For details: Contact sbala@mssrf.res.in or phone +91-44-55282342 |
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