Every species, small or big, has a role to play and the loss of even one would disturb the harmony in nature, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy said here on Wednesday.
Participating in the 58th Vanya Prani Saptaha celebrations organised at the Nehru Zoological Park, Mr. Reddy called for sustained efforts to protect the biodiversity and ensure that no damage was caused to it.
“We have only inherited and have no licence to destroy it for our selfish needs. Biodiversity has to be protected and passed on to the future generations,” he said.
The city is presently hosting the prestigious convention on biodiversity (CoP-11) and the event is not just a matter of pride for the city but for the entire country. “At the end, there will be a Hyderabad Protocol and the world will follow it for years to come,” he remarked.
Earlier, in the presence of cabinet colleagues and the Director General of Forests, Ministry of Environment and Forests, P.J. Dilip Kumar, the Chief Minister rolled out the ‘Andhra Pradesh e-Green Watch’ and ‘Andhra Pradesh Forest Management Information System (APFMIS)’.
The e-Green Watch aims at maintaining data on Compensatory Afforestation and provide details on all diverted and acquired land under the Forest Conservation Act.
The APFMIS, meanwhile, is an online integrated system developed to capture data on forest management and administration.
Transit system
At the zoo, the Chief Minister also released Gaur (Indian Bison), which have been acquired from Mysore Zoo into the enclosure, flagged off a battery-operated transit system and inaugurated ‘Bio-Scope’, an orientation hall.
Statue of the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, will soon be installed at the Nehru Zoological Park. A delegation of local leaders met Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy during his visit at the zoo and submitted a representation for the installation of the statute.
“All these years, there has been no statue of Nehru at the zoo though the facility is named after him. We will have it installed soon,” Mr. Reddy announced.
