The Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) is organising a national brainstorming session on genetically modified (GM) crops on February 2 and 3 to harness opinion of all States with a view to stamping out GM foods from the country.
Agriculture and Forest Ministers of all the States as well as heads of State Biodiversity Boards are being invited to the national workshop. V.S. Vijayan, director of KSBB, said the workshop would chart out an action plan for a ‘GM-free India.’ The Kerala government, with the board’s prodding, has declared that GM crops would not be let into the State. The workshop will kick off the board’s activities relating to the celebration of the International Year of Biodiversity. The United Nations declared 2010 as the Biodiversity Year to focus global attention on the need to conserve biodiversity and raise awareness of the increasing threat to biodiversity.
Biodiversity is the chain of life that connects all living things — Earth is home to as many as 13 million different living species, including humans and bacteria. This incredible natural wealth is the foundation of human well-being. The systems and processes these millions of species collectively provide produce food, water and air to humans. Wetlands purify water and offer protection against floods; mangroves protect coasts and their populations by reducing the damage caused by storms and tsunamis; and coral reefs provide breeding grounds for fish. Hence, loss of forests, soils, wetlands and coral reefs has direct impact on human life. But Earth is losing this diversity at a rapid rate.