MoEF now sets eyes on marine biodiversity

NEW DELHI: Marine biodiversity is now set to become the latest buzz word at the MoEF. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said that marine biodiversity had been consistently ignored in India's conservation programs so far, a reason why about 25 species of fish and ambhibians found their way into the list of critically endangered species in India.

"Due to our preoccupation with carnivores and forests, we have not paid attention to marine biodiversity. In fact, oceans themselves play a vital role in sequestering carbon so they are a huge asset in combating climate change. The integrated coastal zone management committee that has been set up will look at these aspects. None of the marine species mentioned in the critically endangered list are in protected areas and we intend expanding the network of marine national parks to at least partly address this issue," Ramesh said.

The list has been compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Since 2009, two more species have been added to the list: the Chalazodes Bubble-Nest frog and Resplendent Shrub Frog. However, Ramesh said the listed species were only those for which verifiable data was available and there could be several more about which nothing or very little was known. "We are looking at expanding this list. A civet breeding centre is being opened at Thirupati zoo soon. The civet's secretion is used to anoint the idol of Balaji and the temple management is helping set up this centre," he added.