Book titled, “Fauna of Symbiosis International University” releases at the Lavale campus today

July 4th, 2018: “India is the only country which does ‘Wildlife conservation’”, said Mr. Siddhanta Das, The Director General of Forests and Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India at the book release function titled, ‘Fauna of Symbiosis International University’, at Symbiosis International (Deemed University),Lavale campus in Pune today. He adds, “For conserving something, we need to love the things. To conserve ‘forests’ you should know the flora and fauna. Conserving forests is directly related to mankind survival. This book highlights the fauna of the university.”

He emphasized, “Changes in global climate is having a huge impact on the earth. Average temperature of the earth is rising and it is predicted that the temperature rise in this century will be 4-5 degrees Celsius. How can we mitigate the emissions is the call of the hour. The plant community is the only mechanism which can help in this. Our per capita for forests is very low in India, which is 1/10th of the world”.

‘Fauna of Symbiosis International University’ book is a field guide which beautifully describes birds, reptiles, insects mainly butterflies, mammals and aquatic life forms over 350 acres of undulating forest landscape of Symbiosis International (Deemed) University to the east of the Sahyadri mountain ranges.

It contains 191 high quality photographs and information of morphology, distribution and characteristics of each species. The book jointly authored by Dr. Prakash Rao, Deputy Director, Symbiosis Institute of International Business (SIIB), Shilpa Avate, Former Project Coordinator at SIU and Dr.Gurudas Nulkar, Management Professor, Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD) has been published to raise environment awareness and create curiosity among students and layperson towards nature conservation as well as to give scientific information in a very simple language.

The Project received guidance and support from Chancellor Dr. S. B. Mujumdar, Pro Chancellor Dr. VidyaYeravdekar and Vice Chancellor Dr. RajaniGupte of Symbiosis International (Deemed) University.

Speaking at the function, Dr Vidya said, “The students living here at the Lavale campus are very lucky. With the co-existence of the all species living here, this campus truly epitomizes the motto of Symbiosis-Vasudhaiva Kutumbakkam– which means that every species in this universe belongs to one family. She also highlighted that Symbioisis is perhaps the only University in India which has comprehensively mapped and documented its floral and faunal diversity.

Dr. Mujumdar highlighted, “Forest and humanity have a symbiotic relationship”. Drawing back to Indian history, he reiterated that all creativity blossoms amidst nature. “Be friends of plants and animals”, he said. Dr. Mujumdar also went on to highlight that this book is part of the series- Flora of Symbiosis, Singing Rocks of Symbiosis and now Fauna of Symbiosis.

Dr Rao shared, “The genesis of the book began several years ago. I was struck by the landscape and the natural beauty of this campus when I first saw it”. On 22ndFeb , 2016 the idea of the book was born”.

Ms Shilpa Avate a young and keen naturalist and one of the co authors , brought in first hand experiences of her journey in the wilderness of Lavale campus and highlighted the important role of students in putting together the book.

Dr Gurudas Nulkar , one of the co authors highlighted and stressed the value of biodiversity and its importance in our lives