The Hindu Business Line : Meet focuses on marine biodiversity

The Indian Ocean Biogeographic Information System (IndOBIS) will initiate steps to develop products, tools and protocols for marine biodiversity informatics and help evolve guidelines to encourage information and communication between technology and marine biological data management.

IndOBIS, one of the seven regional nodes established by the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) with responsibilities of collecting and disseminating of data on the biodiversity of the Indian Ocean region, will also have a proposal to make the database multilingual to suite the need of the coastal communities, Dr S. Kannaiyan, Chairman, National Biodiversity Authority, said at a workshop on Biogeographic Information System for Indian Ocean organised by the National Institute of Oceanography here.

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES

According to Dr Kannaiyan, study of the sea in the last two decades has leaped forward with the advancement in science and technology, improved sensors to observe the sea by direct measurements as well as remotely from space.

Remotely sensed and in situ observations are increasingly being made through the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), thereby creating an unprecedented amount of geo-referenced environmental and ecosystem data, he said.

Understanding the biodiversity in the context of global warming, biological invasions, IPR etc are the need of the time. "We need tools that are handy for formulating ecologically sound policies," he added.

India, being the largest country bordering the Indian Ocean, is primarily concerned about the Indian Ocean region and its biodiversity. However, the biodiversity elements of Indian Ocean are relatively less known compared to other world oceans. Indian Ocean is the third largest ocean in the world occupying 21 per cent of the world's sea area contributing to the production of living resources with an estimated annual yield of eight million tonnes of capture fisheries.

In his inaugural address, Dr P.K. Abdul Azis, Vice-Chancellor, Cochin University of Science and Technology, said that biodiversity is under-explored and under-exploited worldwide. Considering the global changes taking place, he said a lot of work has to be carried out on biodiversity, as it is the economic storehouse of mankind.

"We have to focus great attention for documenting biodiversity in a more sustainable manner," he said adding, that the rapid transformation on earth's life scape is a major concern on the mankind and it has raised concern among scientists worldwide.

The workshop is aimed at familiarising with the advancements made in the biodiversity of the Indian Ocean and also to give a hands on experience of the IndOBIS web portal, particularly in data inputs, validations, retrieval and digitising of museum specimens. Similar workshops in other Indian Ocean rim countries would also be organised in near future to benefit the data providers from those regions.

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