'Informatics supported mechanism needed to manage resources'

Environment protection and economic development needs to be integrated with an informatics supported mechanism so that the country's natural resources are managed efficiently, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar today said.
Inaugurating the 21st meeting of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility Governing Board here, the Minister said it was critical to manage natural resources and ecosystems that harbour unique and varied biodiversity.
He said India stood committed to developing "biodiversity informatics" as an essential element of India's economic, environment and social well-being.
Javadekar said India was in the process of building a comprehensive and decentralized biodiversity information infrastructure to serve national interests and to provide inter-operability with regional and global initiatives.

Elaborating further, Javadekar said that while around 6500 natural history museums throughout the world housed approximately 3 billion specimens of Indian origin, access to these specimens was both time-consuming and expensive.
"It was, therefore, important to promote and facilitate an informatics mechanism to provide easy and better access. The momentum in this process had already begun," he said.

Noting that India was amongst the few countries in the world that had developed a "National Biodiversity Information Outlook (NBIO)", Javadekar said the development of NBIO was a strategic decision taken by India to provide a national vision and a long term roadmap to facilitate free and open access to biodiversity data.

The Minister said the implementation of NBIO would entail establishment of Indian Biodiversity Information Facility (InBIF).
A number of eminent scientists have come from all over the world to take part in the 21st meeting of Governing Board of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the associated events, particularly the Science Symposium.
Meanwhile, speaking to children participating in an event to celebrate "International Day for Preservation of Ozone Layer" here, the Minister compared the Ozone layer to a blanket and stressed that it should be protected for existence of humanity.
"We need to make our Earth livable and dedicate ourselves for evolving a sustainable lifestyle", the Minister said at the programme organised by the Environment Ministry and National Museum of Natural History.

Every year, September 16 is observed as "International Day for the Preservation of Ozone Layer".