The Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Board held a two-day workshop in Chennai to create an action plan for protecting endangered species. Experts brainstormed ways to save local plants and animals. Mita Banerjee said, "Researchers and experts from various scientific and research institutions participated in the workshop" to help guide future conservation.
The threats to endangered/critically endangered species found in Tamil Nadu, the possible mitigation activities required for their conservation, and an action plan were discussed at a workshop in Chennai.
The Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Board (TNBB), on the occasion of World Sustainability Day, conducted a two-day workshop on endangered species titled 'Species on the Brink - Towards a Meaningful Strategy and Action Plan for Conservation.'
Inaugurating the workshop, Minister for Forests and TNBB chairperson R.V. Ranjith Kumar released a Handbook on Biological Diversity Act for use by Biodiversity Management Committees. He also released a film on the Biological Diversity Act in Tamil to create awareness among the public.
Mita Banerjee, IFS, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Member Secretary, TNBB, said researchers and experts from various scientific and research institutions participated in the workshop.
During the workshop, the scientists brainstormed in separate groups on angiosperms (flowering plants), other plant groups (ferns, mosses, algae, gymnosperms, and bryophytes), invertebrates (butterflies, odonates, and beetles), reptiles and amphibians, freshwater fish, and marine biodiversity, among others.
Based on the sessions, the different groups arrived at a template for preparing a plan for further action and offered detailed suggestions for species-specific recovery plans, mission-mode conservation efforts, and other strategies for conserving the endangered/critically endangered flora and fauna of Tamil Nadu.
Establishing a dedicated threatened plant recovery fund, setting up ex situ and in situ conservation centres, protecting specific habitats and micro-niches, and monitoring amphibian breeding sites were some of the suggestions put forward, said Ms. Banerjee. Suggestions for the sustainable use of tradable species were also given.
The workshop was attended by PCCF and Head of Forest Force A. Udhayan, Chief Wildlife Warden Rakesh Kumar Dogra, Additional PCCF S. Ramasurbamanian, and other senior officials.