Shillong, June 5: Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma has urged all to take small yet significant steps towards the conservation, restoration and preservation of environment. Addressing the state on the occasion of the World Environment Day 2021 under the theme ‘ecosystem restoration’ via video conferencing on Saturday, he also pledged and called upon all to bring 500 square kilometers of forest cover in the State in the next few years.
Attended the virtual #WorldEnvironmentDay celebrations in the State with Hon’ble Ministers Sh. @JamesSangma1 & Sh. Hamletson Dohling along with State Govt. officials & officials of @WorldBankIndia, @IFAD, & JICA.@PrakashJavdekar pic.twitter.com/t35eOjyo2T
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) June 5, 2021
He also stressed upon the importance of 3As viz Awareness the need to make people aware at the grassroot level, Alternative the need for society and government to work together to create alternatives and Act the need to act swiftly to achieve the goals in a time bound manner to make a difference.
“All need to accept that climate change is happening and it will affect everyone,” he said adding that different forms of adaptation to the environment and the ecosystem, figuring out policies, creating infrastructures and investing to ensure that people adapt to the changing ecosystem are very critical not only for the government but the people as well.
He said the adaptation to climate change is going to be a very critical part for policy makers at the highest level.
Also speaking during the occasion was Minister, Forest & Environment, James P K Sangma who said that the theme of the World Environment Day this year is very apt to Meghalaya.
“With forest and nature so embedded in our culture and our livelihood, agriculture and life so closely tied to climate change impacts and forest related sectors, we have to recast our lens on Meghalaya as a forest economy,” he said.
He added that economic opportunities out of the green and climate action and conservation besides climate finance, climate budgeting, conservation related livelihoods and incentivised green action like eco tourism is what the State needs. “We at the forest and environment are already formulating many proposals to create a pathbreaking template of environment leadership,” he said.
The Minister also informed of the various afforestation projects in coal mining affected areas. He also said that the department is looking at restoration and cleaning of two entire stretch of rivers in East Jaintia Hills which are polluted due to unscientific coal mining.
Minister, Soil & Water Conservation, Hamlet Dohling participating in the celebration said that Meghalaya has a huge biodiversity and called upon all the citizens to come together unitedly in conserving the natural resources and the ecosystem.
Earlier, Chief Secretary, M S Rao welcoming the participants said that keeping in mind the theme of the World Environment Day 2021 celebration, ‘Ecosystem Restoration’ the celebration in the State highlights the ecological concerns of Meghalaya and also the success of some villages in restoring the ecosystem.
The programme also saw the experience sharing from communities across the State in preserving and restoring the ecosystem.
A presentation on Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Natural Resource Management and Livelihood to have a common platform to anchor all that is happening in Natural Resource Management was also given during the occasion.
Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister along with Soil & Water Conservation Minister, Hamlet Dohling took part in the avenue plantation to mark World Environment Day at Madan Lum Shyllong. “Let us all do our bit for the environment and the planet we live in. Let us Reimagine, Recreate and Restore our planet,” he said during the plantation drive.
BSF Meghalaya Observed World Environment Day
The Border Security Force, Meghalaya also marked “World Environment Day 2021” with a theme of ‘Ecosystem Restoration’ at its Headquarters Umpling and various border locations of Meghalaya taking all precautionary measures against COVID while organizing a massive plantation drive.
Contributing towards to protecting, preserving the environment and promoting a greener ecosystem, a massive plantation drive was undertaken within all the campuses of BSF in Meghalaya and more than 3000 saplings of various species were planted during the plantation drive.
The event was organized under the overall guidance of Hardeep Singh, Inspector General, BSF, Meghalaya Frontier, who on the occasion said “we must carry out plantation as much as possible as plantation is the simplest and effective way to protect our environment.”
