"India will host the 11th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in October this year to discuss the conservation of biodiversity. It is ironical that the government is writing off forests in central India to coal mining activities and yet hosting the convention," Birkesh Singh of Greenpeace told reporters here today.
He said that Greenpeace wants a commitment from the Prime Minister that forests will not be handed over to mining lobby until the necessary criteria are fully debated and put in place.
He plans to occupy a temporary house on a tree for a whole month which will be protected from wildlife at Padmapur in Chandrapur. An online petition which has also been kicked off will be handed over to the government.
He had earlier climbed the British Parliament building in year 2009 to demand a change in policy to save the environment.
