“Building awareness about environmental degradation is vital in developing countries like India than in developed countries. The CleanUp India 2016 conference will provide a global platform for national and international experts to share their expertise on contamination issues and remediation solutions,” said Prof. Ravi Naidu, Global Chair, Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE).

Inaugurating CleanUp India 2016, a conference jointly organised by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and CRC CARE in association with the University of New Castle, he said the global experience of CRC CARE will help build India’s capacity to develop solutions for its environmental pollution problems.

The main focus of the conference would be the effect of toxic chemicals on nature and technological approaches to prevent pollution and reduce consumption of non-renewable resources.

Translating the recent momentous scientific advances into action is a sure-fire way to address the burning issue of environmental contamination, which is being tackled around the world. New solutions relevant to the Indian context would be analysed in the conference. Often the exploitation of nature has been done in a non-sustainable way, which is causing increasing concern, as non-sustainable exploitation of natural resources ultimately threatens human existence, Ravi noted.

Prof. K Ramasamy, Vice Chancellor, TNAU, in his presidential address said, “Developmental activities such as construction, transportation and manufacturing not only deplete natural resources, but also produce large amount of waste leading to pollution of air, water, soil, land and oceans. Untreated waste is a major cause of pollution of rivers and of environmental degradation, causing ill-health and loss of crop productivity.”

Tamil actor Sivakumar, who took part in the event, launched globalCARE (Global Contamination Assessment and Remediation Enterprise), a scientific initiative to help clean up and curb the growing impact of chemical contamination on human health and environment.