'Biodiversity elements of Indian Ocean relatively less known'

[Guest guest]

'Biodiversity elements of Indian Ocean relatively less known'

KOCHI: Indian Ocean and its biodiversity is a major thrust area for countries bordering it, for the developmental process, Prof S Kannaiyan, Chairman, National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), said. Kannaiyan, presiding over a workshop on 'Biogeographic Information System for Indian Ocean (IndOBIS)', organised by National Institute of Oceanography Regional Centre, Kochi, said the biodiversity elements of the Indian ocean are relatively less known compared to other world oceans.

"What we know of the components of coastal and marine biodiversity or changes over time are highly scattered and are not often readily accessible to all," he said.

Although much research has been carried out or currently going on, many initiatives are unrelated, data are difficult to trace and even more difficult to integrate, he said.

Pointing out that the IndOBIS web portal has more than 35000 species records and five museum data sets, he said "in course of time IndOBIS would be able to provide authenticated data and information on biodiversity of Indian ocean to user community." He said the workshop was primarily aimed at familiarising the advancements made in the biodiversity of the Indian ocean and to give a hands-on experience of the IndoOBIS web portal, specially in data inputs, validation and retrieval.

Prof P K Abdul Azis, Vice Chancellor, Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), inaugurated the workshop.

About 30 delegates from various research organisations and institutions including a some participants from Afro-OBIS and US-OBIS are attending the workshop.

 

 

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