Biodiversity: Botanists digitising Chitral fauna

CHITRAL: A three-day international conference of Botany on ‘Digitisation and documentation of plant resources in Chitral’ concluded at Chitral University on Sunday. Speakers at the conference said botanists need access to the plant biodiversity of the area which formerly remained obscure from the world. Botanists of national and international level read their research papers on the subject and imparted training to the teachers of Botany Department. Speaking at the concluding ceremony, well known USA Utah University botanist Dr Mary Elizabeth Barkworth said it was a landmark day in the history as the work on digitisation of the plant species was being started in an obscure and remote area known by very few people about its geography. She said the assembly of the plant documentation specialists in would have far-reaching results on the future of research on the plant species in the area making Chitral ‘the paradise of botanists’ on the basis of its rich variety.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2018.