Uttaranchal: The Chief Justice of Uttaranchal, Mr. Ashok Desai, asked judges of Uttaranchal courts and the state’s forest department to evolve new ways of tackling issues of environmental and forest degradation. Delivering the keynote address at The Seminar on Legal Issues Related to Biodiversity Conservation in Uttaranchal held on June 2, he said: “Environmental degradation has gone beyond simple implementation of the laws. Reverence to nature must come from within and is the only effective prevention of further destruction. Any approach we adopt must not be sentimental but sensible and must include sharing of resources by all species.”

Justice Desai noted that men must learn to adapt to nature’s ecological laws and work toward a more sensible and balanced protection and management of the environment. He also stressed that while mankind viewed itself as the Master of the Environment, it must look upon the environment as a donor rather that a supplier of resources and must be precautious so that future generations would still have resources available to them.

The state Chief Wildlife Warden, Mr. A.S. Negi, who expressed serious concern about wildlife crime and delays in resolving cases, requested the chief justice to start designated wildlife courts in most districts of Uttaranchal.

Organized by the Uttaranchal Forest Department with support from Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), the seminar was held in early June at the Corbett Training Centre in Kalagarh and included senior members of the bench from each of the thirteen districts of Uttaranchal.

Other speakers at the seminar included the Honorable Justice Irshad Hussain, Mr. Mahendera Vyas, Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Mr. V.B. Sawarkar, Director of the Wildlife Institute of India, Mr. Sudhir Mishra, Legal Advisor, WTI, , Mr. D.V.S. Khati, Field Director, Corbett Tiger Reserve, Mr. Samir Sinha, Director of the Corbett Training Centre, Mr. Satish Tamta, Advocate, Supreme Court of India.

Topics discussed during the workshop ranged from an overview of biodiversity conservation in India, the problems of wildlife crime in Uttaranchal, a summary of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, the problems of effective implementation of wildlife laws and the role of the judiciary, an overview of the Forest Conservation Act with special reference to the T.N. Godavarman Thirumulkpad v. Union of India case {AIR 197 SC 1228}. The programme also included an open discussion on select case studies on wildlife crime presented by Sudhir Mishra of the WTI.

The seminar is part of a series of legal workshops the WTI is planning to hold near wildlife sanctuaries throughout the country. The program was conceived in March of this year when the first workshop of this kind was organized by the Karnataka forest department for the judiciary of that state and the WTI was invited to provide resource persons for the event.

The next seminar in the programme will take place in Chattisgarh, followed by others next year. The project is funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation of the US and the WTI.