Protecting Earth: Science Congress to impress policy makers

Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, Jan 2 (UNI) The Indian Science Congress, holding its 94th annual session in this temple town, will make every effort to impress upon policy makers and others the need for measures to preserve the planet.

Addressing media on the eve of the five-day event here, Congress General President Prof Harsh Gupta, said policy makers, as well as the people at large, had to take note of the fact that the earth could offer only limited resources. The planet could not be taken for granted and as such, it was necessary to address concerns arising out of indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources, he noted.

Ever-increasing energy consumption had led to an alarming rate of global warming and other undesirable developments, it was pointed out. At the close of the 21st century, global temperartures would go up by five degrees Celsius, posing real danger. Human population, a mere five million in 800 BC, had crossed 6.3 billion, Prof Gupta said, underlining the need to make more efforts at conservation.

The present edition, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also marked the golden jubilee of the International Geophysical Year, observed in 1957, and was in tune with the UN declaration of 2007-09 as Years of Planet Earth, he added.

More UNI