The participation of people is essential for the conservation of biodiversity and stricter rules don’t save the planet, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Monday. Addressing the opening ceremony of the 13th Conference of Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP 13), Javadekar said unrealistic conditions cannot be imposed to conserve nature. We must ensure people’s participation in conservation. Someone from the panel here suggested we should have more stricter rules and laws for conservation.But stricter rules don’t save the planet. The planet can be saved only through people participating voluntarily. Therefore don’t put unrealistic conditions for preservations and don’t convert friends into enemies. I am hopeful this COP will definitely come out with solutions, the minister said. The Gandhinagar edition of CMS COP is one of the biggest so far with 3,250 people from 130 registering till now, he said. Nature is part of India’s life cycle, he said, extolling India’s huge biodiversity. Globally, India has only 2.5 per cent of land, 17 per cent of human population, 18 per cent of cattle, 8 per cent of mammal, 12 per cent of birds, 6 percent of reptiles and 4 percent of amphibians. This is the biodiversity of India. Nature is a part of our life cycle. We worship trees and animals. Migratory species is the most fascinating topic. We have whale sharks, turtles, the great Indian bustard and many other migratory species, he said.
