Jhargram set to be the model biodiversity district in Bengal
Times of India | 19 January 2024
Kolkata: Jhargram is all set to be declared a model biodiversity district after a preliminary survey by the Bengal Biodiversity Board. The 79 gram panchayats in the district's eight blocks will proactively conserve the biodiversity of each panchayat area and develop 79 such biodiversity maps.
The model biodiversity district projects include conservation of the unique biodiversity of the district, development of responsible ecotourism centering biodiversity, sustainable cultivation sans pesticides and chemical fertilizers and organize awareness campaign for supporting and helping biodiversity to proliferate in a conducive ecosystem, said Bengal Biodiversity Board chairman H S Debnath.
Recently, the Kanak forest adjoining the Kanak Durga temple has been declared a biodiversity heritage park. The park will act as the centre of the model biodiversity district.
The board recently held a meeting with all the block-level members to chart out their roles. The meeting was attended by the deputy district magistrate cum biodiversity nodal officer of the district, Md Alim Ansari, and the board’s research officer Anirban Roy.
“To make Jhargram a model biodiversity district, each and every villager of over 2,000 villages under 79 gram panchayats need to play a proactive role. For instance, two ponds of Gopi Ballavpur block II were declared Abhay Pukur for its robust population of indigenous fish variety. There must be more such Abhay Pukur in Jhargram where aquatic biodiversity must proliferate,” said Debnath.
Apart from conservation of old tanks in the district, there will be a comprehensive survey to identify other biodiversity hot spots, old trees and groves. There has to be new forests and new biodiversity hubs for the proliferation of biodiversity. At Sankari and Nayagram, farmers are aided and trained to run farming without chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The output of the organic farming will be shared with other farmers and the model will be replicated across the district, said a West Bengal Biodiversity Board official.
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