Bio-diversity

International conference on recent trends in bio-diversity and biotechnology

Education, policy issues and outreach in biotechnology
Synopsis for 15th Nov at Aurangabad
Education
Policy Issues
Outreach


Bio-diversity is closely linked to the issue of environment, life cycles on earth, extincting varieties, global warming etc.
They are also linked to human activities, cultural heritage, skills, propagation of education, earning and economic activities.
They are highly linked to political and MNC business considerations.

India is one of the richest nations as far as biodiversity goes. So we are prone to others stealing away our IP rights, our knowledge base and documents, and wanton destruction of our BD material.

Hence I shall deal mainly with following aspects----

1. The issues and impacts of biodiversity spread over centuries and millenia while human life span is only 100 years. Hence the human activities have different relevance in different times and the study of History, cultural traditions and life styles of people in different times is important. What are our plans?
2. With our far shorter life span , we can protect biodiversity only if we have a system of smooth transfer of our knowledge and experiences from one generation to other. So what are our conscious plans for it?
3. Forest Management strategies, Medicines, our Attitude to forests and wild life,--all against the backdrop of consumerism are important considerations.
4. Education – Involving children in biodiversity activities is a must. But we have to tackle the question at the levels of Children, adults, farmers, tribals, people on forest fringe, foresters, and above all the policy makers.
lateral thinking – if we are worried about tigers. Can we involve some religious guru to spread the word of about DURGA / her Vyaghra / hence saving the tigers.

5. Educational Strategies – Already the subject of environment is included in the school syllabus. However I see one big problem. There is advertent or inadvertent attempt to nullify all the local knowledge and skills. Hence children and students of life sciences such as botany, zoology are discouraged to study the local names. I can site here the method of Salim Ali, the famous bird expert who invariably mentioned all the local names in as many Indian Languages that he could. This is a major lacunna and I urge upon the University of Marathawada to take the lead in acknowledging local knowledge and keeping open communication links with them.
6. Role of documentation , photography, Video filming, electronic and print media for preservation of knowledge.
Listing and local variations.

7. Awareness and outreach -– What is our plans or budget for spreading awareness about
 Our richness in biodiversity
 Out Intellectual property potential
 How to protect community I.P. rights as against encroachments of the Ist racer.
 The extincting varieties and what role they played historically --- ever if the role is not known, it does not reduce the importance of their existence.

8. Modern Science/ Globalization / Consummation
Take example of inorganic and intensive farming, hybrid varieties requiring concentrated inputs and Genetic modification,
How equipped are our Laboratories to undertake these experiments and test their long term effect ? What kind of long erm, sustained field trials have we planned?

9. Importance of seemingly unimportant varieties, such as WEEDS. It is through their abundance that evolution of our serials and grains have taken place.

10. How much are the academicians aware and sensitive to some govt policies leading to loss of our BD stock. For example not providing corridors for the movement of large animals (elephants, tigers, lions, bisens, turtles, …), not expanding our green cover, cutting away of our hills leading to entire soil and BD getting lost….and so on.
11. What type of legislations or interventions do we need for
Protection of BD within the country
Protecion against international “smart sharks” who will deny our IP rights but have all the legal framework to protect their claims on our IP.