ZSI playing vital role in advancing taxonomic knowledge: Union Environment minister

Kolkata, Jun 30 (PTI) Lauding the role of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) in biodiversity research, Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change minister Bhupender Yadav on Monday said the 110-year-old institution has played a vital role in advancing taxonomic knowledge.

Yadav, who was speaking at ZSI's 110th Foundation Day celebration programme here, said the over a century-old institution is embedded with the nation's strides in faunal exploration and research and contributing significantly to the understanding of India's rich biodiversity and supporting global endeavours.

He said the Centre has declared more than 90 Ramsar sites, to protect the water bodies, and ZSI has a great role in defining "the faunal diversity of these sites," which will help policy makers and intensify the drive to save and protect endangered species.

Yadav said to realise the goal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi towards a digital revolution, which is not only confined within the economy, ZSI has a significant part in devising a digitised bio-diversity data which will be user-friendly having a searchable database.

This will help in research and documentation, he said, describing ZSI as one of the pillars of biodiversity providing excellence, innovation and capacity building.

He said ZSI has been assigned the role of providing scientific inputs in framing the Biodiversity Act and Wildlife Protection Act and their inputs had been of immense help to the Centre in drafting the legislations.

Stating that ZSI has tracked recruitments at the scientist level in recent times, Yadav flagged the decline in the number of taxonomists in the country.

ZSI has been providing next-generation taxonomists and conservation biologists contributing to the drive for biodiversity conservation, he said.

The minister mooted the concept of bringing organisations like ZSI and Botanical Survey of India and others under a single umbrella to tackle the challenges to ecology, environment and biodiversity.

Talking about a pioneering project by ZSI, he said its scientists have been tracking Olive Ridley sea turtles to trace their migration and breeding from the zone of Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean.

"Interestingly one of the turtles, tracked in Odisha, was spotted near Maharashtra, 4,000 km away, along western coast from east to west," he said.

ZSI has undertaken the drive for long-term monitoring of various species for conservation in Odisha, Andaman and Nicobar, West Bengal among other states, he said.

Yadav referred to the ZSI's project to study a unique species as 'horseshoe crabs' in coastal areas of Odisha which will be launched in West Bengal soon.

He said the ZSI has established a state of the art forensic lab in Kolkata last year and this lab is already handling complicated forensic tests.

On the 110th Foundation Day of ZSI, he said the figure has spiritual significance.

"In numerology 110 focuses on positivity, creativity and spiritual growth, " he said. PTI SUS RG