APSCC has partnered with the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity and have made a long-term commitment to promote the Decade in all our activities and communications. Biodiversity is the diversity of species, habitats and ecosystems on earth. Biodiversity and ecosystems provide a lot of services to the people for free including food and freshwater, control of climate and diseases, soil formation and recreational opportunities which are essential to our wellbeing and survival. Because biodiversity and ecosystems provide these services for free, their value is often over-looked, undervalued and not taken into consideration in economic decisions.
Researches show every acre of forest cover sequesters 16 tons of carbon dioxide annually. Planting trees and maintaining green spaces for carbon sequestration within the campuses and communities will offset climate change and global warming produced through greenhouse gases and other means. Indigenous species can be used for the green cover as they will not only require less/ no chemical fertilizers but also less water for irrigation and will not interfere with the local ecosystem thus promoting biodiversity conservation and habitat restoration within the locality. Ecological landscaping integrated with wetlands (constructed or natural) will subsequently prevent top soil erosion, thereby protecting and restoring the lost flora and fauna.
At APSCC, we believe it is not possible to create a framework that is ‘one-size-fits-all’ for biodiversity conservation and habitat restoration. Until now, successful implementation appears to be a major challenge as this may not be adapted to all cases especially due to the diverse nature of the environments and communities of Peninsular India.
The initiatives of APSCC to foster the stated objective are
- Conservation of flora, fauna through organic farming
- Habitat restoration through indigenous species
- Prevention and control of pollution at source
- Afforestation and regeneration of degraded areas
- Protection of the environment and resources