Strategic meeting on Himalayan biodiversity conservation held at KU

Srinagar, Dec 2: A strategic meeting on ‘Biodiversity: Current Status, Conservation and Sustainable Utilisation’ was held at the University of Kashmir on Thursday.
The day-long meeting was organised under the aegis of J&K Chapter of Himalayan Knowledge Network (HKN) and was attended by academics from the University of Kashmir, some other universities in Kashmir and officers of several J&K government departments such as Forests, Wildlife, Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries and WUMCA etc.
KU Registrar Dr Nisar A Mir chaired the inaugural session of the meeting and underscored how such important deliberations amongst key stakeholders will lead to better policy formulation on biodiversity in the Indian Himalayan Region.

Dr Mir said the university, under the leadership of Vice-Chancellor Prof Talat Ahmad, is committed to generate an effective mechanism to feed the knowledge, information and research generated in the university into policy-planning on critical issues like biodiversity and water resources management.

Nodal Officer J&K Chapter of HKN Prof Zafar A Reshi outlined the objectives of the HKN. He said two major themes—biodiversity and water resources management—have been chosen for wider deliberations at the HKN forum, which shall cover a range of issues concerning these critical areas, including their current status, on-ground situation and future planning.

He said the information and data so generated will be compiled in the form of a report to be submitted to Niti Aayog for incorporating the same in the policy formulation and planning in these areas.

Asserting that conservation of forests is vital to conservation of biodiversity, Prof Reshi called upon various stakeholders to put their heads together in making small interventions to facilitate robust policy-making on critical issues in the larger interest of the society.

Prof Manzoor A Shah welcomed the guests and gave introductory remarks about the strategic meeting and the issues to be taken up for deliberations while Dr Anzar A Khuroo delivered a formal vote of thanks.

Pertinently, the HKN operates under the umbrella of GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development, an autonomous institute of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India.