Dear Friends, In line with the sweeping changes being made in environment and land acquisition policies to favor industry and investment, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is preparing to introduce new coastal management legislation to open up coastal land for unregulated commercial exploitation.
A draft notification prepared by the MoEF to this effect and due to be published in the Official Gazette was recently leaked to the press. The draft is based entirely on the recommendations of the infamous MS Swaminathan Expert Committee Report, which since its release in 2005, has been summarily and universally rejected by fisher peoples' organizations and all other democratic forces in civil society. We must prevent the gazetting of the draft notification, which if allowed to go unchecked will eventually be transformed into new law with disastrous consequences for coastal communities and ecosystems. We therefore urge you to write to MoEF to not take any steps to enact new coastal legislation without due consultation with all stakeholders in particular fishing communities and their democratic representation. Please Endorse the following Petition and Circulate it widely. http://www.petitiononline.com/cmz/petition.html Regards, T Peter President KSMTF A. Andrews General Secretary KSMTF --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala run by Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA) To post to this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
