Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has tied up with Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to set up a research facility under the title of ‘National Centre for Marine Biodiversity’ in region of Jamnagar, Gujarat. This is the first research institute to be established in the public private partnership (PPP) mode in the country.
This facility, to be designed in association with Reliance Industries, would exclusively focus on the conservation of the country’s marine biodiversity. It will be the first marine national park of India located under the Reliance turf of Jamnagar. By inculcating aspects of research and development into conservation process, this facility is likely to mitigate the severe rise in number of endangered biodiversity. It has been noted that over the years, marine biodiversity has been readily ignored in India’s conservation programs. So far, around 25 species of fish and amphibians have been listed as critically endangered species in India, and without proper conservational and research programs, much of marine biodiversity may face the brunt extinction. Earlier in March, Minister of Environment Jairam Ramesh had addressed that all the marine species listed as critically endangered do not have protected habitats and hence there is a need to expand the network of marine national parks to begin addressing this important issue.
In a conference held on Monday, Jairam Ramesh said that as a way of attracting young people to the institute, a new approach and design was needed. Believing that a world-class research centre needs to be designed as an enterprise of superior thought and action, roping in a private sector monolith to help carry out the task was a likely option. Also as a way of building PPP, the decision was taken to include RIL in the process. Reliance is known for cutting edge research and development expertise and to inculcate the same for the purpose of conservation will prove beneficial to the cause.
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