Western Ghats meet in Delhi

KOCHI: A convention of the people’s representatives from six states coming under the Western Ghats will be held in November at Delhi. People’s representatives from the panchayat level to MPs and MLAs will be invited to the convention. The dates for the convention will be decided later. The decision has been taken at the two-day meeting of the Western Ghats Convention held in Kochi on Saturday and Sunday. The convention in Delhi is part of the national and international campaigns planned for the protection of the Western Ghats, declared as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 2012.

The two-day convention chaired by John Peruvanthanam has also decided to organise mass resistance against the Central and state government policies subverting environmental protection laws on behalf of corporate entities. A large section people belonging to tribal community, fisher folks, Dalits and several other marginal sections are depending for livelihood on Western Ghats. The interest of these sections of the people are threatened by the wanton destruction of the Western Ghats, speakers attending the two-day meeting have pointed out.

As part of the international campaign conferences will be held at the levels of UNESCO, UNICEF, World Social Forum and Asian Forum, said a release by the organisers.  A slew of activists and scholars including Claude Alvarez, Dr T.V. Sajeev, adv. Guruswamy, Prof G.S. Vijayan, Prof MK Prasad and others addressed the various sessions in the past two days.