State insect to heritage sites, Karnataka government dragging feet over major announcements, say activists | Bengaluru News

Bengaluru: Nearly five years after experts and multiple departments rallied behind declaring the ‘Tudave honeybee‘ (Apis cerana) as Karnataka’s official state insect, the govt is yet to act on it. Fuming over the delay, conservationists said the inaction reflected govt apathy toward ecological symbolism and environmental priorities.Karnataka Biodiversity Board (KAB) had recommended to the forest dept in 2020-21 to declare the Tudave honeybee as the state insect after backing from the home and horticulture depts. Green activists and conservationists, led by former KAB chairperson Ananth Hegade Ashisara, met forest, environment and ecology minister Eshwar Khandre last week and sought immediate announcement on these long pending proposals. “It’s baffling. The scientific community, the board, and even the then CM BS Yediyurappa had responded positively to the recommendation. And yet, here we are — no formal announcement even after five years,” said Ashisara. The proposal to recognise Apis cerana, a native and ecologically vital honeybee species, had the unanimous support of a committee that included experts from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), entomologists from University of Agricultural Sciences, and officials from the horticulture department. Often referred to as Asian honey bee, Tudave honeybee is native to south, southeast Asia and is considered as one of the important pollinators, helping in better agricultural yields, besides enhancing forest cover. A state insect tag was also expected to safeguard these honeybees, threatened by various factors. “It is not just the honey bee, which is awaiting official tag but also several fish conservation sites across Karnataka. 11 fish conservation sites were identified, and five years ago, another 15 such sites were identified along the Western Ghats for formal notification, and nothing has been done to date,” Ashisara told TOI soon after submitting the memorandum to the minister.He said despite the Biodiversity Act being a powerful weapon to crack down on unregulated exploitation of natural resources, no cases have been registered in the state under the Act. The group also reminded the govt to publish details of the report, prepared by senior IFS officers VV Singh and RK Singh, on trees endemic to Karnataka forests that are on the verge of extinction.Recalling that Karnataka was the first state to declare four sites as biodiversity heritage sites, Ashisara said, “In 2021-22, the board proposed 12 such heritage sites in Malnad, coastal, and North Karnataka regions, including Adinarayana Betta, Antaragange Betta, Sita Ashoka Vana at Sagar Barur, and Kattale Kaanu near Jog Falls. But none of them have been declared as heritage sites to date. In fact, our scientific report on frequent landslides and the carrying capacity of the ecologically fragile Uttara Kannada district is gathering dust in the board.“