As you are aware May 22 is celebrated as International Biodiversity Day every year. The theme for this year is Island Biodiversity. This is to coincide with the designation by the United Nations General Assembly of 2014 as the International Year of Small Island Developing States.

Islands and their surrounding near-shore marine areas constitute unique eco-systems often comprising many plant and animal species that are endemic—found nowhere else on Earth. Over the past century, island biodiversity has been subject to intense pressure from invasive alien species, habitat change and over-exploitation, and, increasingly, from climate change and pollution

India can boast of more than a thousand islands with two prominent groups, the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the Lakshadweep, Minicoy, and Aminidivi Islands. These islands, rich in biodiversity are considered as a paragon of beauty and present a landscape of scenic and picturesque extravaganza, shimmering like emeralds in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.

Management of biodiversity is an affirmative action and I salute those who have been engaged in this process particularly in the context of India which has huge biotic pressure on her biological diversity. So managing biodiversity in India will always remain a challenge, let us manage it.

Making use of the opportunity provided, let us all commemorate the occasion by preserving mother nature and building awareness on the values of biodiversity involving public at large.