The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy today released the Greater Hyderabad City Biodiversity Index 2012.
The biodiversity index has been provided a score of 36 out of 92.
Addressing a conference on Cities for Life at the Convention on Biological Diversity here today, the Chief Minister said for the first time in India, a City Biodiversity Index has been prepared and this would be submitted for validation.
Mayors from various parts of the world converged here to take part in the meeting.
The State has come up with the Andhra Pradesh Biodiversity rules. In addition, at the local level, the State has established over 590 biodiversity management committees and Hyderabad City Biodiversity Management Committee is one among them.
The State Board has tied up to supply neem leaves to a Japanese company to produce neem water in Japan.
The Government is setting up a biodiversity museum, biodiversity park and a commemorative pylon.
The Commissioner, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, M.T. Krishna Babu, said that the index is a major milestone for the city. This will enable the city to attract funding from within the country and also from international lending agencies.
T. Chatterjee, Union Secretary, Ministry for Environment and Forests, said that urbanisation poses major challenge in terms of its management. This may mean several measures by the Government including 54 cities in the country having to use higher grade of fuels mandatorily by April.