“In order to achieve national, regional and global targets of biodiversity conservation, both the sub-national and local level governments have to be supported to take proactive actions, '' said chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Inaugurating the two-day "Cities for Life- City and Subnational Biodiversity Summit'' here on Monday, the chief minister said that the state government will coordinate with the national and local governments in order to achieve the national goals as well as international commitments under the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD).
"As this involves allocation of resources to build technical capacities to implement result oriented projects and programmes, it is my hope that the outcomes of the summit will feed into the high level segment and will encourage parties to take the next step and mobilise resources for subnational and regional governments,'' he said.
Further to promote awareness about the need to protect and conserve biodiversity in the state, the state government is setting up a biodiversity museum, biodiversity park and a commemorative pylon for CoP-11 showcasing the biodiversity in the state, said the CM.
The state government has established over 590 biodiversity management committees and Hyderabad city biodiversity management committee is one among them. The State Biodiversity Board has also identified Tirumala Hills and four other areas as biodiversity sites.
"The State Biodiversity Board also facilitates the granting of approval regarding the use of biological resources. For instance, recently, biodiversity management committees facilitated the signing of a pact between local communities in two villages of Andhra Pradesh with a company to supply neem leaves to a Japanese company to produce neem water in Japan. He said it is our responsibility to co-ordinate between the national and local governments,'' he added.
Minister for municipal administration and urban development, M Maheedhar Reddy said that the summit would provide a unique opportunity for local and sub-national governments to promote greater coordination among different levels of government to meet national and global biodiversity conservation targets while safeguarding the well-being of local communities.
