A strategic meeting on ‘Biodiversity: Current Status, Conservation and Sustainable Utilisation’ was held at the University of Kashmir on Thursday.

The day-long meeting was organised under the aegis of J&K Chapter of Himalayan Knowledge Network (HKN) and was attended by academics from the University of Kashmir, some other universities in Kashmir and officers of several J&K government departments such as Forests, Wildlife, Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries and WUMCA etc.

KU Registrar Dr Nisar A Mir chaired the inaugural session of the meeting and underscored how such important deliberations amongst key stakeholders will lead to better policy formulation on biodiversity in the Indian Himalayan Region.

Dr Mir said the university, under the leadership of Vice-Chancellor Prof Talat Ahmad, is committed to generate an effective mechanism to feed the knowledge, information and research generated in the university into policy-planning on critical issues like biodiversity and water resources management.

Nodal Officer J&K Chapter of HKN Prof Zafar A Reshi outlined the objectives of the HKN. He said two major themes—biodiversity and water resources management—have been chosen for wider deliberations at the HKN forum, which shall cover a range of issues concerning these critical areas, including their current status, on-ground situation and future planning.

He said the information and data so generated will be compiled in the form of a report to be submitted to Niti Aayog for incorporating the same in the policy formulation and planning in these areas.