The International Day for Biodiversity (IBD) 2018 was celebrated all over the country on 22nd May. The celebration of the IBD under the theme – “Celebrating 25 years of action on biodiversity” provides an opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of and threats to biodiversity, while highlighting its contribution to sustainable development.
The celebrations have been organised to mark the 25 years of coming into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The national-level celebrations were held at Prof. Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) Auditorium in Hyderabad.
In India we worship trees, animals and rivers because we want to protect them. The celebration today reminds us to go back to our roots to conserve nature in our traditional ways. For us in India it is not the 25th year of conservation, instead we should be celebrating thousands of years of conserving nature and living in harmony.
India has contributed significantly towards achieving the global Aichi Biodiversity Targets 11 and 16. However the continuing loss of species may perhaps lead to the sixth mass extinction.
Biodiversity is the fundamental substratum upon which food security of India stands. Advances in technology, especially towards climate smart agriculture would not have been possible, but for the conservation of wild varieties by the people. The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPVFR) Act provides for protection of the genetic resources conserved by the farmers/ community traditionally for ages.
The IBD 2018 celebrations was organised by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in coordination with National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and Telangana State Biodiversity Board.