Firstly ,the opening address was given by Mr.

Ranjit Barthakur ,wherein he emphasised the need to

make people aware about the basics of biology and botany since,in order to understand the features
of plants we must have fore knowledge about the same. And for achieving this kind of awareness we
must start from the bottom of the pyramid, that is we must first target the schools, wherein biology
must be taught to the students and made a mandatory subject. There should also be a focus on
making the subject of biology easy to understand and interesting. Further on he also said that the
people must be made aware of the importanceof nature and they also must be able to appreciate it.
He remarked that although there are many parks in the country, but people find it very difficult to go
there for various reasons. One of the primary reasons given here was that the 60% of India lives in
cities and they lead extremely busy urban lives. He again reinstated the point that environmental
education is extremely important along with its implementation.

Next he spoke about governance, he spoke that the agriculture and forestry departments must work
together. That the policy regarding nature must have all departments come under it. Further he
made a question about good governance, giving an example of Costa Rica. Wherein state led heavy
reforestation led to the country becoming a hub for eco tourism, reflecting how government policies
can positively affect nature.

Now coming to good governance, he gave many examples of what it is. It will include full respect to
human lives, which further includes the right to clean air and healthy environment, furthermore it
also includes the upholding of the rule of law. Apart from these he outlined many other factors, such
as efficiency, accessibility, transparency, equity and sustainability. Next up, he talked about the
stages of industrial development, where the first stage was mechanical, where everything was done
manually. Next came electrical where energy played an important role. After this came chemical and
fertiliser revolution. Then came the technological revolution, which helped with easy access, and
movement across the globe was simplified.

Then, in the end, he once again reiterated that development is important but it must not be at the
cost of our natural resources and our environment.

The next speaker of the session was Mr. Ramadorai.

Firstly, he elaborated upon the health of the forest as a whole, he explained about its importance
and he also told about the need for it to be deliberated upon. Then he went on to say how in ancient
India, the forest was considered as an extremely important part of the society and how entire
communities lived within it. It was considered as a very important source of natural resources and
livelihood. Furthermore, he elaborated as to how the idea of forest is revered in classical Ayurvedic
Sanskrit text, where it is shown as something very important for the health of both humans and
animals. Relating to it he also told everyone about the importance of water as far as forests are
concerned. He said that in restoring the health of the forest, water is extremely essential. It must be
noted that water has cleansing properties that are extremely important for the regeneration of
forest.

The next speaker of the session was Mr. Ashok Khosla.

Firstly, he spoke about the need to secure forests, land and soils. Wherein, he spoke about the
attention that must be played to technologies, knowledge and policies. He further highlighted that
these are essential in order to secure the future, not only for ourselves, but also for the next coming
generations. After this, he elaborated upon the publications done by the Club of Rome, which is
titled “Limits to Growth”, which described the terrible consequences which occur when our natural
resources are exploited in an excessive quantity. Then he further described the Club of Rome
wherein he told everyone that it is a think tank which is responsible for coming up with new ideas,
and he also elaborated as to how it is a powerful mechanism to reach people.

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Furthermore, he highlighted how the conference is important as far as deliberation and discussion
on the given issues is concerned. . It aims on addressing the bigger picture rather than individual
thought processes which would aid in pointing out problems; the concerned dignitaries could
provide significant solutions to those problematic issues. Moreover, it is important that we change
the way we live and use resources recklessly because those ways will eventually have catastrophic
effects.

The conference, also, mainly deals with problems regarding forests, land and soils which are
degrading at an an alarming rate.

The club of Rome has dealt with such problems in the past, and it aims to highlight problems relating
to energy, material and livelihood for all.

Moreover, he also elaborated upon the idea that how important it is to think about things that
usually people don't think about normally. That is, he advocated thinking out of the box, he
highlighted the dangers of the modern industries and how we are not using the earth sustainability,
as in, he gave the example of how much topsoil goes on to the Creation of one single brick. He also
deliberated upon the changing techniques and technologies we need to bring in and also the policies
we need to bring to use to same. Lastly, he reminded us all that we often overlook the issues which
might be extremely relevant to our lives.