Chennai : “The convergence of people, culture and rich tradition of the beautiful state of Tamilnadu has resulted in preserving the unique biodiversity of the region”, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav said.
Inaugurating a special exhibition on the occasion of International Day for Biological Diversity in the presence of Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Tamil Nadu Environment Minister Siva.V.Meyyanathan, he appealed to the people to take a pledge to work towards conserving biodiversity to achieve a future not only for us, but also for the coming generations. “Biodiversity offers us goods and services that provide the world’s natural living infrastructure and are essential for a well-functioning global economy”, he said, adding, it was estimated that approximately 40 per cent of the world’s economy is based on biological products or processes. “Any effort at conserving and enhancing biodiversity can only succeed if we tackle the challenge of global warming, which has to be urgently brought under control”, he reiterated.
The Minister said the country is on track to achieve the biodiversity targets at the national level and is also contributing significantly towards achieving the global biodiversity targets. He said further, India has established a unique three-tier model of participatory biodiversity resource governance at the national, state, and local-body levels, thereby ensuring that the entire country gets representation in our governance system.
Bhupender Yadav also said the Sembakkam lake, one of the most critical and fragile marshlands of the state, is undergoing science-based lake restoration through the efforts of government and civil society organizations. He expressed confidence that this ecological restoration would serve as a role model for other cities in the country. Bhupender Yadav said as part of Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS), National Biodiversity Authority and the Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Board (TNBB) are working with the Irula Snake Catchers Industrial Cooperative Society (ISCICS) to provide access to snake venom to a company namely, iSERA Biological Pvt. Ltd which has signed the ABS agreement. According to this, five per cent of the total purchase price of snake venom on an annual basis is being deposited in the ISCICS account for the benefit of the community. Such partnerships are needed to strengthen and incentivise conservation, he added. During the inaugural ceremony, a special postal cover and a book titled ‘India Natural’ were released and India Biodiversity Awards-2021 were presented.