PATNA: Scientists and environmentalists laid stress on the need for ecosystem conservation during a webinar organised by the Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) and the United Nations Environment Programme on the occasion of World Environment Day on Saturday.
They also talked about the importance of protecting the wetlands or areas that are inundated with water permanently or seasonally.
Environment, forest and climate change minister, Neeraj Kumar Singh, who was the chief guest of the webinar, said the state government had taken several strict measures for conservation of the environment.
“Bihar will be successful in reducing its carbon footprint in the next 20 years,” he claimed.
Noted environmentalist, Anil Prakash Joshi, urged the people of Bihar to “adopt old-age traditions that were helpful in conserving the environment”.
“Festivals like Chhath, Sarhul and Karma celebrated in different parts of the country are closely associated with nature,” he said.
Joshi also called the people living in nearly 6 lakh villages of the country “true soldiers protecting nature”.
Dr R K Sinha, the vice-chancellor of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University in Jammu and Kashmir, pointed out that every drop of water was part of the ecosystem.
Lamenting that many wetlands had vanished during the last four decades, he laid emphasis on growing specific varieties of plants in the state.
Echoing similar views, the vice-president of Wetlands International, Ajit Patnayak, said, “The world has lost nearly 50% of its wetlands.
Hence, the need of the hour is to take steps for their conservation.” Deepak Kumar Singh, the principal secretary of the department of environment, forest and climate change, pointed out that damage to the ecosystem was irreparable.
Earlier, the chairman of the BSPCB, A K Ghosh, welcomed the participants and its member secretary, S Chandrasekhar, addressed them.