Goa’s conservation laws should focus on protecting and restoring natural resources to ensure sustainability and biodiversity for future generations
A very common lesson in the Biology Textbooks of the C.B.S.E. (Delhi) for the 11th Standard is the chapter titled “Microbes in Human Welfare” in which streptomycin, a well-known antibiotic is naturally produced by a different group of bacteria—specifically, the soil bacterium Streptomyces griseus.
In nature, Streptomyces griseus produces streptomycin as a secondary metabolite, released into the environment to kill or inhibit other bacterial species.
Streptomycin is part of a class of antibiotics called aminoglycosides, which are produced by Streptomyces species. These bacteria naturally produce antibiotics like streptomycin to inhibit competing microorganisms in the soil.
Hence, it is quite interesting to realise the relevance of organic chemistry to solving real life problems which plague Goa in the interregnum.
What’s particularly intriguing about the antibiotic streptomycin is that it is derived from Streptomyces griseus, a bacterium that produces the substance to inhibit other bacterial species, including harmful ones. Streptomycin is beneficially used to curb infections by targeting bacteria such as Streptococcus, effectively preventing their colonisation and growth. This disrupts bacterial cell growth, making it highly effective against certain types of bacteria, particularly those causing tuberculosis and other infections.
Taking a long glance at Sancoale, it becomes evident that the humble village is now being threatened by a mega-infection that is being touted as a beneficial step in the name of development.
But we never see an environmentalist being elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly. Conservationists are seldom nominated to become the people’s representatives. And then these environmentalists - the so called tree huggers are then forced to take recourse to judicial activism.
While on a diametrically converse scale of balancing public needs with the demands for a sustainable future, the politician who promises “vikaas” (development) to the villagers almost always gets elected by the hesitant voters of that village electorate.
Why is this so?
Why is the trend prevalent in Goa to invite investment from other states by investors who see the potential for environmental exploitation, while no such potential for investment reciprocally exists for Goans in the other states of Goa whether it be in Delhi, Haryana or even Mumbai?
Obviously the infrastructure developer who entered the Sancoale village did not arrive as a conquistador who colonised the land using European manufactured Rifles and a Catholic Mission. The developer derives the title from a Sale Deed or an agreement for Joint Development and this obviously points to the intention of the initial vendor who reposes dreams of wealth and abundance in the consideration that is due from the terms of the agreement.
The central question which requires a repositioning here is whether development planning that is way ahead of its time can be accelerated at the behest of ambitious infrastructure developers.
The South Goa Planning and Development Authority must have surely had plans for the villages’ development, but these plans would have to be made in a planned, consistent and incremental manner, over the course of multiple planning periods which would dictate that every factor ranging from sewerage systems, storm water drainage, air quality monitoring, run off into the agricultural fields, and the strain on the existent ecology in permitting infrastructure development would take place in a phased manner.
But in fact what is actually taking place at Sancoale is nothing short of Parasitism and Host Depletion.
According to Odum and Barrett (2005) in their book entitled: Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed.) published by Thomson Brooks/Cole:
Parasitic organisms derive resources from their host organism, often harming it in the process. Large-scale unplanned development similarly “feeds off” the resources of an ecologically sensitive area, extracting materials, clearing land, and utilising water resources, often without regard for the ecosystem’s long-term health. (Odum & Barrett, 2005).
While Turner et al. (2007) in their article entitled: The emergence of land change science for global environmental change and sustainability, which has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, expresses:
“Just as a severe parasitic infection can weaken or even kill its host, unplanned infrastructure can lead to the degradation or collapse of sensitive ecosystems.” (Turner et al., 2007).
Further Chapin et al. (2000) in their Review Article entitled: Consequences of changing biodiversity published in the Nature journal have emphasised:
Parasitism can upset the balance within an ecosystem if it becomes uncontrolled, similarly to how unplanned development disrupts ecological stability. The natural balance of flora, fauna, water, and soil quality is disturbed, often leading to species decline or extinction (Chapin et al., 2000).
Concomitantly, Gunderson and Holling (2002) in their book entitled: Panarchy: Understanding transformations in human and natural systems, have enunciated that once a host organism is overburdened by parasites, its ability to regenerate or heal is compromised. In the same way, ecologically sensitive regions subjected to unplanned development often lose their natural capacity for regeneration, especially if keystone species or foundational habitats are destroyed (Gunderson & Holling, 2002).
Consequently, an answer lies within the depths of natural law theory of jurisprudence wherein it is stated that laws should be on the basis of ethics and morals. That there ought to exist a higher law based on morality against which the validity of human law can be measured.
From a normative perspective, the laws governing conservationism in Goa should be based on an environmental philosophy and practices aimed at protecting, managing, and restoring natural resources and ecosystems to ensure their sustainability and biodiversity for future generations.
Resultantly, Goa and its villages need a booster dose of altruism, one that acts like a streptomycin antibiotic in obliterating the symptom of unabated environmental destruction thus preventing the infection of selfish unsustainable development.
