We must protect Indian faunal diversity to protect ourselves: Bhupender Yadav

New Delhi: The Union Minister for Environment & Forest and Climate Change and Labour and Employment Bhupender Yadav said “we will not favour nature by working to protect it; rather it’s a favour we do to ourselves”.

The Minister stated this while inaugurating the three-day celebration programme of the 108th Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) day in Kolkota on Saturday.

Mr Yadav congratulated ZSI for completing 108 glorious years dedicated to the service of our faunal diversity, and said “we must protect the Indian faunal diversity to protect ourselves as climate change has busted the myth that humans are superior to nature”.

He gave an instance put forward by renowned Anthropologist Eduardo Kohn, who said forests can think as the trees interact with their environment because they have specialised characteristics of pest resistance.

The Union Miniseter appreciated the efforts of ZSI in establishing globally well-known protected areas such as Silent Valley National Park (Kerala), Namdapha Tiger Reserve (Arunachal Pradesh), Nilgiri and Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserves and many others.

He also mentioned ZSI’s prominent role in providing technical inputs for amending the Wildlife Protection Act.

Speaking at the event, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey said that ZSI should focus on the research and conservation of important wetlands of Gangetic plains of India as ‘Sarovar Mitra’, by initiating a programme for citizen scientists for better data dissemination and conservation awareness.

During the event, ZSI signed three MoU’s for research and academic collaboration with the Royal Government of Bhutan, IIT Jodhpur and University of Burdwan.

With the Royal Government of Bhutan, MoU was signed to conduct population assessment of the Red Panda, through a non-invasive method and with the IIT Jodhpur and University of Burdwan, MoUs were signed for research collaborations and student exchange programmes.

Besides, awards were conferred for various competitions held during the World Environment Day, Mission Life and International Day of Biodiversity.

As part of the celebration, the first two-day Animal Taxonomy Summit will be organised by ZSI tomorrow and day after tomorrow (July 2 & 3, 2023), where 400 delegates across India and abroad including the Natural History Museum, London will be participating.