Venkaiah Naidu inaugurates Marine Interpretation Unit in Vizag, urges people to adopt sustainable lifestyles

Mr. Naidu visited the Forest Research Centre for Coastal Ecosystem (FRCCE) in Visakhapatnam and inaugurated the institute's Marine Interpretation Unit created to disseminate knowledge on the marine environment and to work with coastal communities.

Later in a Facebook post, he recounted his experience of his visit to the centre and wrote that the display units in the Marine Interpretation Unit showing various wood samples at progressive stages of degradation were very informative. Mr. Naidu was also apprised of the bird diversity of the Eastern Ghats as well as species of birds associated with mangroves along the 114 km-long coastline of the Visakhapatnam district.

The Centre is the lone establishment in the country for research on timber protection under seawater in its total perspective. Mr. Naidu said he was happy the FRCCE was conducting research on forest biodiversity and forest genetic resources management with respect to mangroves and coastal ecosystems of the East and West coast. "Their research work on the mangrove ecosystem as well as the biodiversity of Eastern Ghats is all the more critical in the time of ecological degradation and climate change," he added.

The Vice-President expressed his happiness that the centre has distributed 100 preservative-treated catamarans made of perishable timber to the fishermen of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu as a measure towards alleviating poverty. He reiterated that "the ultimate aim of science is to bring happiness and make people's lives better". He lauded the centre for the good work that was being done there for the benefit of coastal communities.