Workshop on 'biodiversity conservation' begins

Vijayawada, Sep 8 (UNI) The Andhra Pradesh State Council of Science and Technology (APCOST) today organised a state-level workshop on 'biodiversity conservation and management' with special focus on natural resources here.

Inaugurating the two-day workshop, Special Secretary to Government B S S Prasad said the country was home to three of the 25 biodiversity hotspots in the world. The present biodiversity was the result of 4 billion years of its existence and the country had no right to either disturb or destroy it.

Conservation and management of biodiversity was the top of the agenda all over the world, he said and added the Department of Science and Technology and the APCOST were implementing programmes aimed at safeguarding biodiversity and earth.

India will coordinate with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for the protection of biodiversity, he said.

The workshop is supported by Natural Resources Data Management System (NRDMS), Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi and other state government departments.

UNI