By IANS
Jaipur : President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, while emphasising the need for global action for saving lakes and wetlands, Monday said that time has come to consider steps for international cooperation to ensure water security.
After inaugurating the five-day 12th World Lake Conference – Taal 2007 – here, Patil told delegates that due to growing urbanisation and industrialisation lakes have suffered severe degradation in different ways in all parts of world.
Therefore, urgent efforts are required for rehabilitation of these lakes and improving their water quality, the president said.
“A partnership should be formed between a lake in a developed county with the lake in a developing country and sharing to technology and capacity building should form the major plank for such cooperation,” she said.
The conference has been jointly organised by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in association with the Rajasthan government and the International Lake Environment Committee, Japan.
The president advocated involvement of all governments, NGO’s, local communities and individuals to restore the health of lakes.
Patil said that global warming and climate change were posing a major threat to the future of lakes and wetlands worldwide. Referring to the report of the inter-governmental panel of climate change, she said that lakes and wetlands would undergo significant changes in their water area coverage and their biological diversity in the coming years.
“In view of this, we should consider measures to counter the impact of climatic change particularly for fresh water resources,” she added.
The president also highlighted the need for effective legal protection to save lakes. Outlining the remedial actions taken by India in this direction, she said that India was among the first few countries to enact a concrete comprehensive legislation for the control of water pollution. India also joined the global conservation efforts by becoming a party to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in 1981.
Environment and Forests Minister Namo Narain Meena informed delegates that the union government is working on a regulatory framework under the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986 that will help in conserving lakes and wetlands and prevent encroachment.
Rajasthan Governor S.K. Singh said that the process of development must also attend to the sensitivity of environment.
He said India has seven percent of the world’s flora and 6.5 percent of world’s fauna with 614 species of amphibians and reptiles, 1,225 species of birds and the 350 species of mammals.
Singh added that a large number of these species were threatened by extinction and many of them are found only in lakes and wetlands so it was essential to preserve their habitats.
Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje told delegates that Rajasthan was home to a variety of wetland and lakes and the state has a tradition of conserving and worshiping water bodies.
Raje also highlighted the need to take necessary action with regard to Keoladev National Park in Bharatpur so that apart from solving the problems of lack of drinking water and irrigation, the aquatic life of this wetland can also be protected.
Hironori Hamanaka, the director general of the International Lake Environment Committee, said the first world lake conference was organised in the year 1984 in Japan and since then it has been held every two years in various countries of the world.