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| Mridul Hazarika at the book launch in Jorhat on Saturday. Telegraph picture |
Jorhat, Feb. 11: The director of Tocklai Experimental Station, the oldest tea research institute in the world, Mridul Hazarika, today called upon the tea industry to take up programmes to conserve biodiversity in the Northeast and to incorporate a few chapters on Assam’s natural resources and its preservation in the state’s school curricula.
Hazarika said this after releasing Asomor Prakritik Sampad, a book on Assam’s natural resources edited by Aditi Bezbaruah and published by the Assam Science Writers’ Association at the Press Club here today.
Lauding the efforts of the association for attempting a compilation of all the resources available in the state for the first time, Hazarika said it had opened up a new chapter of knowledge and awareness on the region.
“Statistics show Assam has 35 per cent forest cover but I have seen through remote sensing images that there is only about 19 per cent. The rest is covered by tea bushes which is shown as forest cover. The tea industry should start a project to conserve the biodiversity of the region,” he said.
He said just planting a large number of trees haphazardly would not be able to create a biodiversity which takes billions of years to create and the Northeast had been identified as one of the 14 biodiversity hotspots of the world with immense natural wealth.
He also said natural resource management should be focused on in school curricula and this could be the beginning.
Former president of Assam Science writers’ Association Bhairab Handique said Assam’s natural resources had not been properly utilised, like coal. As a result, the state was still underdeveloped despite having so much, he added.
Montu Bhuyan, who had co edited the book, highlighted the importance of a book that stresses sustainable growth and development while using the state’s natural resources.
Former president of Assam Science Writers’ Association Santanoo Tamuly said the association had been committed to popularising science among the people since its establishment in November 1999, and of all the editions this book was the most valuable for its accuracy and vastness of scale though it may not be all comprehensive.
Aditi Bezbaruah said the 432-page book, which was divided into 14 sections, was just a beginning of what could be said of a systematic collation which took over three years to see the light of publication.
“Some areas may not have been covered due to lack of writers or due some not delivering on time, but this would be made up in subsequent publications.”
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