Conserving nature should become people’s movement: Gov

Correspondent

Governor of Nagaland, Prof. Jagdish Mukhi, Thursday said that conservation of nature and environment should become a people’s movement and called upon the local bodies, civil society groups and NGOs to participate.
Speaking at the ceremony for the Governor’s Award and State Level Essay Competition at Raj Bhavan, Kohima, the governor stressed on the importance of climate change and environmental degradation.
He said there was an increasing number of global forums where environment protection, biodiversity conservation, carbon sinks and green growth were being discussed.
Prof. Jagdish, however said that despite knowledge on the subjects, people were witnessing “receding forests area and shrinking of biodiversity to rapidly melting glaciers and ice caps, extreme weather events”.
He suggested for more efforts on spreading awareness and for people to contribute to conservation of nature and environment which he said should be “a people’s movement” where local bodies, civil society organisations and NGOs should participate.
The governor also highlighted the National Environment Policy adopted in 2006 which promotes adoption of cleaner technology and bio-friendly disposal of waste and proposal to launch a massive afforestation project.
The Governor’s Award was conferred to three individuals under essay competition and winners under different categories- The Tizu Valley Biodiversity Conservation and Livelihood Network Zunheboto for their outstanding contribution to conservation and protection.
The Community Conserve Area was jointly managed by the villages of Sukhai, Kivikhu and Ghukhuyi which conserves an area of around 1363 hectares.
Meanwhile, the Kripa foundation, Kohima was awarded for creating social impact and awareness on prevailing social ills and its amelioration while the three winners of state level essay competition were Mariam, Class X from BHSS, Mangkolemba; Loni S. Shikhu, Mount Mary College, Dimapur and Yiben B. Humtsoe from Wokha.
Prof. Jagdish said that excellence was not a result of wishful thinking, sheer luck or happenstance but was rather the culmination of concrete goals, hard and smart work aligned with those goals and judicious decisions. He said the awards were instituted to honour and recognise the individuals for their exemplary initiatives and contribution to the society besides encouraging the public to achieve their aspirations.
The governor also stressed on the damage caused by social ills in the society including the menace of drug abuse, which he said was another grappling global challenge.
In this regard, he urged upon both the state government and CSOs to ensure that potential victims were made aware of the risks of drug abuse.
Further, he acknowledged the Forest department and Nagaland State Biodiversity Board, Social welfare and members of screening committee of the essay competition for their contributions.
Lauding the winners of the essay competition, he said, the winners portrayed strong proficiency in writing and their works reflected their ability to develop a strong argument, to be clear and coherent, to achieve accuracy in language.
Meanwhile, chief minister Neiphiu Rio in his speech said the state was formed with a recognition of its unique identity and special provisions embedded in various laws to preserve the cultures and traditions.
In this regard, he said the people had done well and made tremendous progress in various fields. He lauded Raj Bhavan for organising the state level essay competition on “Nagaland and my dream”, “Blending tradition and modernity in Nagaland way forward” and “Nagaland statehood, harnessing untapped potentials of a boom”.
Rio said such awards was huge motivation for everyone to excel and at the same time seek talents.
He stated that the potentialities should be looked at, in terms of social capital, in terms of harnessing the energy of the youth in the right direction, in terms of giving them opportunities to face tomorrow and in terms of unleashing the innate potentials of the God given gifts of the youth.
As a hill state with vast natural resources of forests and clean environment at people’s disposal, Rio said the initiative for conservation lay within the community and that intensive community conservation could be translated into direct benefits in the form of carbon credits to communities.
While touching upon alcohol and drug abuse, he said Nagaland had its share of alcoholism, drug abuse and issues of people living with HIV (PLHIV).
He said the percentage of substance abuse and burden of HIV in the state was one of the highest and reducing the problem of substance abuse, rehabilitation of victims, social stigma, reducing discrimination and helping PLHIV to live a normal life were contributions of Kripa Foundation.
He said essays reflected dreams and aspirations of the younger generation in an evocative manner and only through the joint and concerted efforts of the people of Nagaland would people be able to take the state forward.
Congratulating the Awardees, he appealed the gathering to grow from strength to strength and be an inspiration for the younger generation.
Earlier, chief secretary Nagaland, J. Alam delivered the keynote address, a brief note on governor’s state level essay competition was highlighted by commissioner & secretary to governor, T. Mhabemo Yanthan. Cash prizes of Rs. 1 lakh along with citations were awarded to the individuals under different categories.