Citizens record over 1,600 species of flora and fauna in Pune

Hills such as Taljai, Vetal, ARAI, Hanuman, Ramtekdi and Parvati; gardens; college campuses like Fergusson, SP College and Modern College have become biodiversity hotspots and a majority of the species have been registered from these areas

Pune: As part of the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) “People’s Biodiversity Register” or PBR – a civic initiative started in 2018 to raise awareness about biodiversity and conservation – Punekars have recorded nearly 1,662 species of flora and fauna, including over 750 species of birds, in the city areas till August 2023.

As per the PBR data, there are over 900 species of trees in the city of which at least 125 are rare species. (HT PHOTO)

Hills such as Taljai, Vetal, ARAI, Hanuman, Ramtekdi and Parvati; gardens; college campuses like Fergusson, SP College and Modern College; and defence institutes have become biodiversity hotspots and a majority of the species have been registered from these areas.

Mangesh Dighe, environment officer, PMC, said, “As part of the biodiversity conservation action plan, we have implemented the PBR initiative. In the current PBR, the data related to flora has majorly come from the tree census. However, the data related to fauna is the contribution of citizens. Over the years, the initiative has got good response from citizens of all age groups. Many enthusiastic citizens have come forward not only to register the biodiversity in the city, but also to conserve the same.”

“Many colleges, institutions, and NGOs organise activities such as birdwatching, nature walks etc. and participants contribute significantly to the PBR records. Therefore, such activities benefit from gathering information on the biodiversity of the city,” Dighe said.

As per the PBR data, there are over 900 species of trees in the city of which at least 125 are rare species. Over 50 species of reptiles and 750 species of birds have also been recorded.

The PBR initiative was started in 2018 wherein a web-based application named ‘Indradhanushya’ was made available to citizens by the PMC environment department. Using the app, citizens could record the species observed by them within the PMC limits throughout the year. Each new record is entered by the app after checking against existing records and the entire list is then examined by experts to avoid false/double entries, a PMC official said.