| Thursday, October 18, 2007
Encourage research on climate change: biotechnologists
Policies, strategies to ensure sustainable development sought
Tiruchi: Environmental biotechnologists have asked the Centre
and the States and non-government organisations to encourage
research on climate change to safeguard the environment.
The demand came at the end of a day-long national seminar on
‘Climate Change and Environment,’ organised by the
Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Bharathidasan University,
on Tuesday.
They insisted on evolving policies and strategies to ensure
sustainable development through afforestation and reduction
of greenhouse gases and carbon emission. The objective of the
seminar was to create awareness among the young student community
on the imperative need to prevent anthropogenic activities on
earth, and the impact of the change in climate, an integral
part of the ecosystem, on environment, according to organisers
M. Govindaraju and T. Sivasudha.
The event took stock of the prediction of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change that there would be dire consequences
if increasing urbanisation, deforestation and fossil fuel combustion
as a fall out of industrialisation and population pressure were
left unchecked. The utmost need for adherence to international
treaties such as Rio Earth Summit and Kyoto Protocol was emphasised
by several speakers, who listed global warming, retreat of glaciers,
flooding and droughts in the recent years as proof of climate
change caused due to anthropogenic activities.
Inaugurating the seminar, Vice-Chancellor M. Ponnavaikko advocated
a combination of bio technological and nano technological approaches
to arrive at scientific solutions to address the environmental
problems.
B.K. Tyagi, Officer-in-Charge, Centre for Research on Medical
Entomology, Madurai, delivered a special lecture on the seminar
topic and S. Sundaravel of the Department of Ecology and Environmental
Sciences, Pondicherry Central University, dwelt on ‘Global
Climate: Changes and Challenges’.
While Karuthapandyan, Professor and Head, Department of Biotechnology,
Alagappa University, Karaikudi, focussed on ‘Restoration
of Ecosystem: Environmental Genomics Approach’, K. Chandrashekara,
Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Agricultural
Sciences, Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra, Bangalore, elaborated
on the topic: Global Climate Change and Biodiversity –
Boom or Bust ?’.
Shanmuga Sundaram, Professor and Head, Department of Microbial
Technology, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, presented certificates
to the participants at the valedictory session presided over
by the Registrar V. Radhakrishnan.
Earlier, Dr. Shanmuga Sundaram delivered a special lecture on
‘Application of Nano Biotechnology for Environmental Management.’
Courtesy: The Hindu
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