Forum

International Symposium on Pollinator Conservation Concluded on High Note

-          “Pollinator Conservation Consortium” announced by Earthwatch Institute India, V Sivaram Research Foundation and GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development

-          Total 12 plenary lectures, 59 technical papers and 10 posters were presented during the symposium

New Delhi, September 26, 2014 – The three day International Symposium on Conservation and Management of Pollinators for Sustainable Agriculture and Ecosystem Services organized by V Sivaram Research Foundation and International Commission for Plant Pollination Relationship concluded today at National Agricultural Research Center (NASC), ICAR, New Delhi. The three day 

International Symposium saw total 12 plenary lectures, 59 technical papers and 10 posters which were presented during the three day symposium.

 The key announcement of the day was the “Pollinator Conservation Consortium” by Earthwatch Institute India, V Sivaram Research Foundation and GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development. The main objective of this consortium is to bring all the like minded people (scientists, practitioners, policy workers, businesses, farmers and other practitioners)  working on pollinators together and meet annually to share research findings and experiences in order to work together for the conservation of the pollinators. The consortium is open for all organizations, institutions, corporate and individuals who would like to contribute to this cause. Announcement of web portal for the proposed consortium was made by Raghuvansh Saxena, Director Earthwatch Institute India.

 Dr. Sivaram, Chairman, International Symposium on Pollinators, said “The pollinator crisis exemplifies the intimate relationship existing between the welfare of natural environments and their biodiversity and the needs of sustainable agriculture. The recommendations produced from the symposium should help foster support from agencies to enhance initiatives to conserve pollinators in the ecosystem.”

A need of baseline data emerged from this symposium. In order to cope up with the data deficiency on pollinators, Director Earthwatch Institute India briefed about the upcoming android application being developed by Earthwatch Institute India on main pollinators of India. The application will be free of cost and can be used by scientists and citizens who can contribute to science.