Union ministers to bring nat’l biodiversity events to Neura

Panaji: Union minister for environment Bhupender Yadav and Union minister for state for environment Ashwini Kumar Choubey will be in Goa on May 23 to observe the International Day of Biodiversity 2023 and will be launching the nationwide programme for verification and updation of the people’s biodiversity register (PBR). The PBR is a document prepared at every village and regional level, documenting the floral and faunal biodiversity, as required by the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
On May 22, Padma Shri awardee Rahibai Popere, who is considered the Seed Mother of India, will be delivering a talk and interacting with Goans to inspire planting of indigenous seeds in the state. The events on both days, May 22 and 23, will be hosted at the Neura village panchayat.
On May 21, as part of the G20 events, Goa will also participate in the mega beach cleaning event being organized across the country. During the event, the village biodiversity management committees (BMC) will also collect and attempt to identify sea weeds species, said member secretary of Goa State Biodiversity Board (GSBB), Pradip Sarmokadam.
“On May 21, mega beach cleaning as part of a G20 event is taking place across the country and it will be held in Goa too, organised by the department of environment in association with GSBB, in Calangute and Colva village panchayat jurisdictions. The efforts will be supported by the Indian Navy, the Coast Guard and different industries. The cleaning will take place from 6.30am to 9am. It is unlike any other beach cleaning drive as we will engage experts to identify sea weed species,” said Sarmokadam.
During the beach cleaning event, there will be ‘selfie point from waste’ and photography competitions on the global theme for the International Day for Biodiversity - ‘From agreement to action – building back biodiversity’.
He said that at the event on May 23, taking place in the presence of Union environment minister, Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant and state environment minister Nilesh Cabral, the Goa state biodiversity conservation awards will also be declared for BMCs which have excelled and for individuals for their biodiversity conservation efforts.