Hyderabad, October 4 : The Greater Hyderabad City Biodiversity Index (CBI) covering the GHMC limits spread across Medak, Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad districts will be released on October 15 during the City for Life Summit as part of on-going global biodiversity conference.
Talking to reporters at the GHMC Headquarters at Tank Bund, GHMC Commissioner MT Krishna Babu said that the GHMC was the first in the country to come out with the Biodiversity Index for its jurisdiction spread across 625 kilometres. The CBI will be released by Union Minister for Urban Development Kamalnath, who will also inaugurate the City Summit as part of COP-11.
The GHMC Commissioner said that as a good practice, the Biodiversity Index 2012 has been prepared based on the latest user manual endorsed by the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) and the discussion documents of Singapore National Parks Department. The GHMC consolidated the required authentic data from Wildlife, Taxonomy and other labs of Osmania University, National Remote Sensing Agency, AP Forest Department, National Green Core and eminent resource persons of the city.
Krishna Babu said although the GHMC and other stakeholder departments have been taking many measures in their domains, the scoring in this document has been awarded very conservatively to have an evenhanded appraisal about the city situation. In this exercise, the city has secured a score of 30 out of 92 considering 23 indicators. For historical and capital cities like Hyderabad, such scores is respectable, he said. Further, he said that the score could be improved by making needful changes to the existing ongoing programs of the city.
The GHMC Commissioner informed that about 200 Mayors and delegations of 50 cities from 46 different countries and nearly 150 Mayors and Commissioner of 50 cities across India would participate in the City Summit which would be presided by GHMC Mayor Mohammad Majid Hussain. As many as 14 countries are likely to confirm their Biodiversity Indices during the summit which would be focused on ending pollution in urban areas.
Krishna Babu said that about 300 hectares at Dholapally in Ranga Reddy district have been earmarked to be develop as Biodiversity Area. The State Government has also sanctioned Rs 5 crore for the same.
- INN
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