On the occasion of Earth Day celebrations, nature lovers, environmentalists and environmental NGOs from Pune and rest of Maharashtra have come out with a list of do’s and don’t’s for the government and politicians in order to conserve nature in its pristine form.

The manifesto, says among other things, that environmental rating and profiling of candidates appearing for election should be used as parameters while selecting candidates (by parties) as well as while endorsing or voting for candidates (by environmentally conscious voters or organisations).

The manifesto is an outcome of the deliberations of the Environmental Conference held in Pune by Ecological Society and Sant Tukaram Vyaspeeth last week.

The preamble of the manifesto, states: “ Environment protection is not merely planting trees or protecting the tiger. It involves conscious decisions and choices on the part of every citizen about human activities and the economy prevalent today. Environmental protection can only be meaningfully achieved if all of us accept that man’s efforts and economy are part of the larger economy of nature and ecosystems needs are more important than consumer sovereignty. We must first allocate resources for the maintenance of nature and then consider resource allocations for human needs.”

Mrinalinee Vanarase, executive director of Ecological Society said, “In this election year all those in power and all those aspiring to be in power, politicians and administrators, should clearly understand what measures are in the interest of all. We have sent the copy of this manifesto to the four aspirants of the Lok Sabha seat in Pune.” She said that they were going to follow up the matter through the MPs and MLAs.

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