Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh interacts with Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wild Life Warden, Hitesh Malhotra, and Secretary to Ministry of Environment and Forests Tishya Chatterjee after a news conference in Hyderabad on Monday.
HYDERABAD: Adding another feather to its cap, Hyderabad has been chosen over Delhi, for hosting the prestigious 11th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in October 2012. The conference will be attended by representatives from 194 countries, including some Prime Ministers.
Announcing this at a news conference here on Monday after holding discussions on preparations for the meet with Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said it would be the largest ever international conference to be hosted by India. This conference along with the ‘6th meeting of the Conference of the parties serving as the meeting of the parties to Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety' would be held from October 1 to 19, 2012.
He said that around 8,000-10,000 participants, including officials from international organisations such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank were expected to attend the event to be held at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC). He said that it was a matter of great honour that India would be hosting the global event. Hyderabad was selected because it had superior conference facilities than the national capital, he added.
It would create a major impetus for tourism in Andhra Pradesh and provide an opportunity for display of handicrafts and forest-based products at an exhibition to be held at Shilparamam, near the venue. He hoped that there would be something like a Hyderabad agreement or declaration at the end of the event, bringing the city on to the map of global meets.
A joint coordination committee co-chaired by himself and the Chief Minister has been constituted. “The clock starts ticking from today,' he added. A large number of events on environment, biodiversity and biosafety would be organised in the run-up to the conference.
Mr. Ramesh announced that his Ministry was contemplating to take up an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) on its own for projects involving multiple sectors and those falling in eco-sensitive zones, instead of leaving it to project proponents. A decision on the issue would be taken by the year-end. One of the drawbacks of the current system for granting environmental clearances was the EIA preparation by the project promoters.
Referring to the project on satellite-based imagery of the coastal erosion, he said it had been completed for Gujarat, Orissa and Pondicherry and Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka and Goa would be covered by August this year.
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