Biodiversity Express Launched To Educate People

State chief secretary Minnie Mathew, on Wednesday, flagged off the Prakrithi Mitra Biodiversity Express, a special van designed to reach all hostels in the universities around Hyderabad, which is hosting a biodiversity conference in October this year.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief secretary said, "Folk media can reach messages relating to biodiversity effectively, especially since it is in the local language, and contain a local message, in a local form. Andhra Pradesh has rich folk traditions, and a great variety of plant, animal and insect biodiversity, along with a lot of endemic medicinal plants."

The National Green Corps Campaign For Biodiversity, being organized in the context of UN COP 11, features the components of "Veedi Bhagotham" for Rayalaseema, "Burrakatha" for Coastal India and "Palle Suddulu" for Telangana - these are the popular folk cultural forms of each of these regions.

The mobile exhibition is expected to raise interest in the public about India's biodiversity, and depicts the following:

State Animal: Black Buck
National Animal: Tiger
National Heritage Animal: Elephant
National Bird: Peacock
State Bird: Blue Jay
National River: Ganga
National Mountains: Himalayas
National Aquatic Animal: Dolphins
National Flower: Red Lotus
State Flower: White Lotus
National Fruit: Mango
National Tree: Banyan Tree
and State Tree: Neem.

Special chief secretary (Environment and Forests) M Samuel, special secretary (Ministry of Environment And Forests, Government of India) M A Farooqui and other officials were also present. (INN)