Biodiversity Bill

I am encouraged to read in today’s KUENSEL that there is a discussion going on and perhaps even the possibility of the adoption of a Biodiversity Bill during the ongoing Parliamentary sessions. I am encouraged to note that the Khenpa Chair of the Committee who worked on the Bill has the institutional memory to draw upon – to ensure that the Bill does not turn out to be another Forest and Nature Conservation Act of Bhutan.

Millions of cubic meters of timber are rotting inside the deteriorating quality of our forest stand, while we are importing billions of Ngueltrums worth of timber from countries like Malaysia. Ground waters are drying up ….. because the unproductive trees are drinking them up.

Hundreds and thousands of farmers are driven out of their farmlands – creating Goongtongs and huge pressures on the already overburdened urban infrastructure. As a result, developmental activities are, by necessity, centered in urban centers – to keep pace with the pressures brought on by the migrating rural population. Little wonder then that there is no money left to take development to rural communities.

I hope that the Parliamentarians have the common sense to read through the Biodiversity Bill, as if their money were at stake, so that something useful is passed into law – not one that takes away the birth rights and the just entitlements of the human society.

Please bear in mind: when conservation is at the cost of human development - conservation will eventually suffer.