Science Express chugs into Mumbai

An ominous warning hits you before you spot anything else: ‘By the time you have finished watching the exhibition, one or two species will have become extinct.’ Welcome aboard Science Express — Biodiversity Special.

Touted as “an innovative mobile exhibition” mounted on a specially-designed a16-coach AC train, travelling across India from June 5 to December 22, Science Express, which is currently on a tour of western India in its fifth phase, seeks to create awareness about the issue of biodiversity. It is now making a pit stop at Mumbai.

Several families and schoolchildren thronged the exhibition. Kalpana Dubey, a visitor from Bandra, was diligently taking notes from the exhibits mounted on electric panels. “I find them interesting. It (the information displayed on the material) will be very useful for my MPSC (Maharashtra Public Service Commission) examination preparations.”

Over 73 lakh visitors delighted over the fascinating exhibits inside the train.

The exhibition will be open to public till September 19 from 10 am to 5 pm.

Marine and coastal biodiversity has been adopted as this year’s theme for the international climate change meet, the renowned Conference of Parties (CoP), which is being hosted by India. The conference is scheduled to be held from October 1 to 19 in Hyderabad.

Last week, the Bombay Natural History Society, in association with the Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Mangroves for the Future , organised a three-day national seminar on ‘Biodiversity and Conservation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystems of India’.