Blue Mormon has been declared as the State butterfly of Maharashtra

Papilio polymnestor, which is commonly known as Blue Mormon, has been declared as the state butterfly by the Maharashtra government on June 22. Maharashtra has also become the first state to have the second largest butterfly, found in India, as the State butterfly.

The decision was taken at a meeting conducted by the State Wildlife Board in Mumbai. The meeting was chaired by Finance and Planning Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar. Earlier, the State of Maharashtra had also considered Giant Squirrel as the state animal and Green Pigeon as the state bird.

Here are some facts on the State butterfly of Maharashtra, Blue Mormon:

It has velvet, black wings with bright blue spots

It is the largest butterfly in India after the Troides minos commonly known as the Southern Birdwing

It is only found in Sri Lanka, the western ghats of Maharashtra, South India and coastal belts of the country

Out of the total number of butterflies in the country, only 15 percent are found in Maharashtra. To conserve butterflies in Maharashtra, Blue Mormon was declared as the state butterfly

The population of Blue Mormons is not threatened. Although the Blue Mormons can be seen throughout the year, they occur more commonly in the monsoon or after it

The most number of Blue Mormons are found in Sri Lanka because the country has availability of the most number of food plants

The butterfly is most common in evergreen forests

The pupa of this butterfly is very large in size

Blue Mormons usually like to sit on the Ixora flower species.

SUSTAINABILITY DEVELOPMENT

Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care .

 

 

 

 

 

 

“World Environment Day” (5th June) 2015

 

Environmental facts

·        Pollution kills over 1 million seabirds and 100 million mammals every year.

·        Garbage dumped in the ocean every year is approx.7 billion kilograms, plastic being the major constituent. Greenhouse gas emissions are also causing acidification of oceans.

·        People in high-density air pollution area have 20% higher risk of contracting lung cancer than people in less polluted areas. The smog disaster in London in 1952 killed over 4000 people in a few days due to high concentration of pollution.

·        80% of urban waste in India is dumped in the river Ganga.

·        There are 500 million cars in the world and this is projected to rise to 1 billion by 2030, effectively doubling the pollution.

·        Composting and recycling worldwide prevented 85 million tons of waste from being dumped in landfills in 2010.

·        Recycled glass can reduce air pollution by 20% and water pollution by 50%

·        Antarctica is the cleanest place on earth, protected by anti-pollution laws.

·        Children contribute to only 10% of world’s pollution but are prone to 40% of global disease.

 

World Biodiversity Day — 22nd May

WORLD BIODIVERISTY  AT A GLANCE (2002)
			Numbers		Percentage
Bacteria			10000		1
Protoctista			80000		5
Plants			270000		16
Fungi			72000		4
Mammals			4630		0.5
Birds			9750		1
Reptiles			8002		0.8
Amphibia			4950		0.5
Fish			25000		2
Insects and Myriapods			963000		58
Arachnids			75000		5
Molluscs			70000		4
Crustacea			40000		2
Nematodes			25000		2

Source : Wonders of the Indian Wilderness by Erach Bharucha

 

Environmental  Facts

India has just 2% of world’s land mass but accounts for 8% of world’s biodiversity.

India has some of the wettest, driest, hottest and coldest region on the planet. Two biodiversity hotspots are the Western Chats and the East Himalayan region.

 

11% of  plant  biodiversity  is found  in  India, with  over 15,000 species  of flowering  plants.

 

India has 2546 species of fishes, 198 species of amphibians, 423 species of mammals, 1331 species of birds, 408 species of reptiles and over 50,000 varieties of rice.

 

33% of species are endemic to the India, which means they are not found anywhere else in the world.

 

929 species in India are threatened today. Only 1% of the vast coastline is protected (75 km of 7516 km), the rest is vanishing due to unplanned development work and fisheries.

 

Every 20  minutes a species  is  becoming  extinct  in the  world. The next  could  be from India.

 

Hopefully this awareness can encourage everyone to priorities sustainability in their day-to-day life and in growth & development activities.

  

 

 

World Water Day — 22nd March

 

India accommodates  16% of world’s population but has only 4% of world’s potable water. 80% of population still relies on groundwater for drinking

 

Only 18% of the rural population (approx. 150 million) in India have access to treated water.

 

To compare, 41% of the rural population (approx. 346 million) own mobile phones

 

Approx. one-third of rural households are reached by piped water supplies, rest live "beyond the pipe”. About 690 million people lack access to safe drinking water, and more than half the pipes in rural areas deliver untreated water

 

36% of rural population in Andhra  Pradesh has access to treated water while less than 2% of rural population in Bihar receive treated water

 

Worldwide, 38 million people are affected by waterborne diseases each year, with over 75% victims being children. 5000 people die every day due to unclean water (1 every 17 seconds)

 

  A leaking tap drip 1 drop of water every second will waste over 2200 liters in a week