Cost of bio-diversity meet is an investment: Minister

 Expenditure on conserving bio-diversity should be looked as an investment for future and the present global economic crisis should not discourage countries on investing more on this front, Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said here today.

 In her inaugural address at the eleventh meet of the Conference of the Parties (COP-11) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Natarajan said resources mobilisation is the most important unfinished agenda after COP-10.
 COP-11 which began here today will hold discussions on various issues such as raising funding mechanism for implementing biodiversity protocols and access and benefit sharing of biodiversity resources. Needless to emphasise that expenditure on biodiversity needs to be looked at actually as an investment that will reap benefits for us and our future generations, the minister said.
 The present global economic crisis should not deter us , but on the contrary encourage us to invest more towards amelioration of the natural capital for ensuring uninterrupted ecosystem service, on which all life on earth depends, Natarajan added.
 Over 160 countries are expected to participate in the COP 11 and a ministerial segment is planned from October 16-19 where heads of State and ministers of environment will engage in discussions related to the key themes of the Conference, a CBD official said.
 Braulio Ferreira De Souza Dias, the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Union Environment Secretary Tishya Chatterjee were also present on the occasion.
- PTI