Wednesday, February 26, 2020

PM inaugurates 13th conference on conservation of migratory species of wild animals

February 18, 2020 | New Delhi/UNI 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the 13th Conference of Parties on conservation of migratory species of wild animals at Gandhinagar through video conferencing.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister asserted that India is one of the most diverse countries of the world and added that with 2.4 per cent of the world's land area, it contributes about 8 per cent of the known global biodiversity. 
The Prime Minister stressed that for ages, conservation of wildlife and habitats has been part of the cultural ethos of India, which encourages compassion and co-existence. 
"Inspired by Gandhi ji, the ethos of non violence and protection of animals and nature have been suitably enshrined in the Constitution of India and is reflected in several laws and legislations,'' he added.
The Prime Minister spoke of the increase in India's forest cover, which currently stands at 21.67 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. 
He mentioned how India has been championing the cause of 'climate action' through conservation, sustainable lifestyle and green development model. 
In this context, the Prime Minister mentioned the push towards electric vehicles, smart cities, and conservation of water. 
He said India is one of the few countries whose actions are compliant with the Paris Agreement goal of keeping rise in temperature to below 2 degree Celsius.
The Prime Minister explained how focused species conservation programmes have shown encouraging results. 
"India has achieved its target of doubling the number of tigers from 1411 in 2010 to 2967, two years before the committed date of 2022," he observed and called upon Tiger Range countries present at the Conference, and also others, to come together to strengthen tiger conservation through sharing of benchmarking practices. 
The Prime Minister also pointed out the initiatives taken by India for conservation of Asian elephants. 
He also spoke at length of efforts to protect the Snow Leopard, the Asiatic Lion, the one-horned rhinoceros, and the Great Indian Bustard.
Noting that India is a part of the Central Asian Flyway for migratory birds, the Prime Minister said with a view to conserve birds along the Central Asian Flyway and their habitats, India has prepared a 'National Action Plan for conservation of Migratory Birds along the Central Asian Flyway'. 
"India would be happy to facilitate preparation of action plans for other countries in this regard. We are keen to take the conservation of migratory birds to a new paradigm with active cooperation of all the Central Asian Flyway Range countries," he added. 
The Prime Minister said India proposes to strengthen its association with the ASEAN and East Asia Summit countries. 
"This would be in sync with the Indo Pacific Ocean Initiative (IPOI), wherein India will be playing a leadership role," he said and added that India by 2020, will be launching its Marine Turtle Policy and Marine Stranding Management Policy.
He said this will also address the pollution caused by microplastics. "Single use plastics have been a challenge for environment protection and we in India have been on a mission mode to reduce its usage," the Prime Minister said.
http://brighterkashmir.com/-pm-inaugurates-13th-conference-on-conservation-of-migratory-species-of-wild-animals

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