Biodiversity Protection Must Begin at Grassroots Level: APSBB Chief

 Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh State Biodiversity Board (APSBB) chairman Neelayapalem Vijay Kumar on Friday said biodiversity conservation was essential for human survival and stressed that solutions to global environmental challenges must begin at the grassroots level.

Addressing the International Day for Biological Diversity celebrations organised by APSBB at the Acharya Nagarjuna University auditorium in Guntur, Vijay Kumar said issues such as climate change and ozone depletion could only be addressed through action at the village and household level. The event was held under the United Nations theme, “Act Locally for a Global Impact.”

Referring to the traditional Indian prayer “Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu,” he said Indian culture had always promoted harmony between humans and nature.

Vijay Kumar said Andhra Pradesh was richly endowed with biodiversity, including the Nallamala forests, the state’s long coastline, Ramsar sites such as Kolleru and Pulicat lakes, and indigenous cattle breeds like Ongole and Punganur.

Highlighting a major achievement, he said APSBB had become the first biodiversity board in the country to collect an additional five per cent Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) amount from international companies using Red Sanders and directly transfer the funds to local farmers and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs).

He also announced plans to establish biodiversity parks near Kadapa, Amaravati and Tirupati, besides developing urban micro forests in municipalities. Biodiversity index reports for Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati would also be released shortly, he added.

APSBB member secretary P. Ramakrishna said more than 13,500 Biodiversity Management Committees and 12,000 People’s Biodiversity Registers had been established across the state to preserve local ecological knowledge.

As part of the celebrations, ten field-level environmental workers from different parts of Andhra Pradesh were presented “Bio Diversity Conservor” awards for their contribution to environmental protection.

Environmental experts, university faculty members, WWF representatives, students and biodiversity enthusiasts participated in the programme.