The need to protect biodiversity and better use of bio-resources to arrest environment degradation and provide a clean and better environment to people was stressed during the inaugural session of a national conference on ‘biodiversity conservation and management of bio-resources’ at Andhra University here on Wednesday.
Director of Naval Science and Technological Laboratory V. Bhujanga Rao pointed out that except humans all other living organisms help biodiversity. When the need was to preserve biodiversity for the security of human beings, the man was destroying the environment and inviting problems of all kind, Dr. Bhujanga Rao said. He wanted scientists and academic community to advise the government on how best to protect biodiversity. Vice-Chancellor B. Satyanarayana, who inaugurated the two-day seminar, stressed the need for a multi-disciplinary approach in conserving biodiversity. Biogases, solar power, etc. should be widely used in the management of bio-resources, he said. Department of Zoology of AU, under the auspices of the Applied Zoologists Research Association (AZRA), is organising the conference.
Economic consequences
President of AZRA B.V. David said the loss of biodiversity would have economic consequences in India in which a large area was under agriculture and forests. Coastal habitats were facing many problems with the mangrove cover having been reduced by 60 per cent to 80 per cent in the country compared to the area that existed during 60s.
Dr. David said new initiatives on conservation were being put in place. He also stressed on developing integrated approaches for conserving biodiversity. Conserving biodiversity was more important for developing nations as economic benefit was involved in it.
Director of CRRI, Cuttack, T.K. Adhya, said unknowing and unplanned development was adversely affecting biodiversity. General Secretary of AZRA Anand Prakash explained about the activities of the organisation. Organising Secretary, B. Bharatha Lakshmi and others spoke.
