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Strengthening Aquatic Biodiversity

under the Namami Ganga Mission

India’s rivers are far more than owing channels of water-they are living ecosystems that sustain
biodiversity, communities, and cultural heritage. Recognising this deeper ecological signicance,
the Government of India has been steadily expanding its focus from river cleaning to
comprehensive river ecosystem restoration.

This commitment was recently During the programme, the The Centre has been designed
reinforced with the inaugura- Minister emphasised that the as an advanced institutional

tion of several major aquatic true health of a river is not platform for scientic
biodiversity conservation measured only by its water research, monitoring and
policy support for aquatic
initiatives under the Namami quality but also by the
biodiversity conservation.
Ganga Mission at the Wildlife richness of life it supports.
Equipped with specialised
Institute of India in Dehradun. Aquatic biodiversity-from l a b o r a t o r i e s - i n c l u d i n g
The initiatives were inaugu-
dolphins and turtles to birds ecotoxicology, aquatic ecology
rated by the Hon’ble Union
and sh-acts as a vital and spatial ecology labs-the
Minister for Jal Shakti, Shri C.
indicator of the ecological
R. Paatil, marking an impor-
balance of river systems.
tant milestone in India’s
evolving river conservation A Dedicated Centre for
strategy. Aquatic Biodiversity
Monitoring
One of the most signicant
developments was the estab-
lishment of the Aqua Life
Conservation Monitoring
Centre for Ganga and Other
Rivers, created through a
collaboration between the
National Mission for Clean
Ganga and the Wildlife Insti-
tute of India.

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