Jammu, Srinagar Initiate Development of City Biodiversity Index, Local Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans
ICLEI South Asia, in collaboration with the Jammu & Kashmir Biodiversity Council, has initiated the development of the City Biodiversity Index and Local Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans for the cities of Jammu and Srinagar.
The development of the City Biodiversity Index is supported by UNDP through the SECURE Himalaya project and the development of the LBSAPs is supported by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) through the INTERACT-Bio project. Inception meetings in the form of stakeholder workshops were held in Jammu and Srinagar on the 18th and the 23rd of August, respectively.
The meeting in Jammu was chaired by Mr. Arun Kumar Mehta, IAS, Chief Secretary, J&K, while Hon’ble Mayor of Srinagar Jenab Junaid Azim Mattu chaired the meeting in his city. Both events received considerable press coverage.
The team from ICLEI South Asia also carried out discussions with subject-matter experts and undertook ground-truthing in both cities for the development of Natural Asset Maps. The development of the Index and the LBSAPs is underway.