A host of exhibitions on biodiversity, being conducted at Hitex as sidebar events along with Conference of Parties (CoP-11) on the Convention of Bio-diversity, will be open to the public. Several organisations, including the ministry of forests and environment and the AP State Biodiversity Board, are holding exhibitions to showcase how biodiversity is helping the human race.
Organisations like the Wildlife Institute of India, India Post and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, are holding exhibitions on different facets of biotechnology. Foreign agencies too are participating, with exhibitions from Japan Intern-ational Co-operation Agency and Go4-Biodiversity Youth International Forum being among them. India Post’s exhibition showcases all the Indian postage stamps that show flora or fauna. The East Godavari River Estuarine Ecosystem Foundation is showing how the mangrove forests in the Godavari river actually protect the state from tsunamis and other natural calamities by acting like a natural barrier.
“But now these trees are being felled by the locals for their livelihood,” said Dr Thulasi Rao, a spokesperson for the AP Biodiversity Board, which has organised the exhibition. An international project with the help of the Central and state governments, the United Nations Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility has now been launched to conserve these mangrove forests. “We can’t stop their dependence on the forests, but we can help them create a balance so they depend on it, but at the same time grow everything back. We want to balance conservation and development,” he adds. There are plenty more interesting exhibitions that will be open for public view from Monday.