Since its inception in 1990, the Botanical Society of Goa (BSG) has engaged with Goa University to create a post graduate department of Botany to promote the study of plants.
Thanks to the pragmatism of the then Vice Chancellor Dr Padmakar R Dubhashi, an IAS veteran, and the then Registrar & Finance Secretary, Dr SK Gandhe IAS, this was achieved within a couple of months.
GREEN SCENE
In 1998, the BSG assisted the Goa Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education to adapt a PSSCIVE-Bhopal syllabus to local needs and create vocational courses in horticulture.
Since 2003, it has partnered with the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP), the Directorate of Agriculture, Forest Department, ICAR-CCARI and other agencies as well as educational institutions to create awareness and encourage action for the preservation and enhancement of the environment in Goa.
By the time Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si on ecology was issued in 2015, Goa had a College of Agriculture.
The ancient Greek civilization used the word ekos for what we now call ‘home’. The study of managing assets and money got the name ‘economy’ and the study of its surroundings (environs is the French word for it) became ecology.
Each household and each person needs to learn to balance the two aspects of the home or ekos: economy and ecology.
If the entire attention is on ecology, our economy may be poor, but we can survive. If our entire focus is on economy, the very ‘development’ that we seek can also destroy us.
We have seen the examples of what happened in Sikkim recently or earlier in Manali, Kedarnath or Joshimath, the annual flooding in Panjim and the periodic flooding upstream in Chorao, Divar and Santo Estevao when the water of the Anjunem dam is released during high tide in the monsoons are good enough.
If the people of Pernem need an example closer to home, the flooding of Raneachem Juem (near Nadora) and the village Sal-Bicholim along the river Chapora are right next door!
The people in Goa know what is good for them and how to balance ecology and economy.
Even in an era when we depended on fuel wood for cooking, and the hilly areas practiced the ‘slash-and-burn’ kumeri cultivation of rice and millets, Goa did not have large scale deforestation as is now happening due to concrete ‘development’ for second homes, resorts, roads and industries.
Consequently, monkeys, wild boars, bisons (gaur), peacocks and wildcats are venturing into the fields and even into the villages.
The Draft Regional Plan 2021 was discussed in the Gram Sabha meetings and worked on by Village Development Committees (VDCs) before being finalized and notified. If there are errors in the final RP2021 as notified, the VDCs will be the best body to take a call on the errors in each village.
The tree cover is important. The need to balance the ecology and economy is local. A good balance in each of the 189 villages will ensure a good balance in the entire state of Goa.
In the absence of an implementable land use plan, the proposed agriculture policy will be like a candle in the wind.
The author is a former Chairman of the GCCI Agriculture Committee, CEO of Planter's Choice Pvt Ltd, Additional Director of OFAI and Garden Superintendent of Goa University, and has edited 18 books for Goa & Konkan