PANJIM: The Goa State Biodiversity Board, in its first substantial meeting in many years and first since the board was reconstituted, has taken a strong stand that no project in Goa will go ahead without the consent of the Board. According to sources present at the Board meeting, the members of the board were of the unanimous view that no project should be granted permission and neither can any other environment regulatory bodies such as the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority or the Goa State Pollution Control Board issue their respective permissions without the permission of the biodiversity board. “We have to congratulate our chairman for taking a strong stand on this front. The Board has asked the secretary to interact all the other bodies and make sure that they understand that this is not just a namesake body,” a source present in the meeting said. “Biodiversity comes above all else. This is a body constituted as per a United Nations Charter and subsequent National Biodiversity Act, 2002. If there is any pollution, it has to do with biodiversity and its preservation. If the mangroves need to be protected it is also because of biodiversity,” the source said. The Biodiversity board had also taken into consideration permissions for two projects ~ Pinky shipyard that is to come up in Chicalim and the proposal for a marina, both of which the sources indicated, the Board is not inclined to give permission, given that the projects will threaten the window pane oysters that are already becoming a rare occurrence. The Biodiversity Board also decided to pay special attention to turtle nesting sites, endangered frog species endemic to the Western Ghats and resolved that these sites should be protected. Sources indicated that the Board is unlikely to take a soft stand against sand mining in the state on the grounds of threats to the endangered bivalves that inhabit the bottom of the river beds. While the Board could not discuss all its items on its agenda, it has scheduled another meeting in a month to deal with the pending issues. Repeated attempts to contact the chairperson of the Board, and Minister for Environment and Forests Alina Saldanha proved futile owing to her tight schedule.