· `Maintain balance between development and protection of ecology'

· `Global warming indicative of imminent disaster'

KANNUR: Climate change, global warming, rapidly dwindling forest cover and threats to ecosystems are among the issues highlighted here on the occasion of the World Earth Day.

A seminar organised by the Forest and Wildlife Department here on Sunday on `Environmental issues of the 21st century' underlined the importance of protecting the remaining evergreen forests and biodiversity.

Inaugurating the seminar, District Panchayat president K.K. Narayanan said the Earth continued to be under attack despite the enactment of various laws for the protection of the environment.

He called for combining awareness campaigns and enforcement to check clearing of forests, demolition of hills and filling up of paddy fields.

Kannur municipal chairman K. Upendran presided. Speaking at the function, Conservator of Forests D.K. Verma said global warming was an indication that human beings were facing a disaster. It would have a drastic effect on our survival unless a clear balance was maintained between development and protection of ecology, he said adding that the State's strength was its greenery, water bodies and biodiversity.

E. Kunhikrishnan of the Kerala University, in his presentation on `Conservation of biodiversity of Western Ghats,' said, the people of the State had the major responsibility to protect the biodiversity-rich Ghats, identified as a biodiversity hotspot.

He said only 6.8 per cent of the biodiversity of the 1600 sq km Western Ghats remained.

Observing that the Western Ghats consisted of thousands of micro-climatic conditions that formed an ecosystem, Mr. Kunhikrishnan said further intervention in the forests would destroy these. He said encroachments were still posing a threat to the evergreen forests of the Western Ghat region.