DDBC Hosts a Lecture Raising Awareness of Eco-conservation
To raise awareness of eco-conservation among monastics of DDM and the students of the Dharma Drum Buddhist College (DDBC), a lecture on ‘Endangered Species in the Plant Kingdom’ was specially held by the DDBC at the World Center for Buddhist Education on the 11th of March, 2012. .
Speaker Dr. Chia-Wei Li, professor of Department of Life Science of Taiwan’s National Tsing Hua University pointed out that eco-conservation presents the most challenging issue of human beings in the 21st century.
He expounded that biodiversity has been under a grave threat as primitive forest has been quickly shrinking resulting from illegal logging or burning.
Dr. Li said plants have served us food, oxygen, as well as medicine, we thus should act quickly and work harder to conserve biodiversity. Human beings could not possibly combat emerging infectious diseases otherwise, he warned.
President of the DDBC, Venerable Hui Min, echoed Dr. Li’s words, saying that all species are equal and closely related, therefore, one shall value the environment where one has lived.
Dr. Li has also been serving as the CEO of Dr. Cecilia Koo Botanic Conservation Center (KBCC) since 2007, dedicating himself into developing Taiwan to be one of the top plant conservation nations in the world. .
According to the KBCC, as of mid-November 2009 the total collection amounted to 11,858 plant species and varieties, and is expected to expand 30,000 within two decades.
(translated by Jin Yang/edited by DDM Australia Editing Team)
