Visakhapatnam: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Friday unveiled an ambitious vision to increase the state's green cover to 50% by 2047. Noting that environmental protection is a shared responsibility, he called for collective action to address climate change and ecological degradation.
Call for Collective Action
“Rising temperatures, extreme weather events and environmental imbalance are warning signs. Every individual must contribute towards protecting nature. The government is committed to increasing Andhra Pradesh’s green cover to 50 percent by 2047,” he said.
Marking World Environment Day, Naidu set an example by cycling 5.5 kilometers in Visakhapatnam on Friday amidst soaring temperatures to promote environmental conservation, sustainable mobility, and healthy living.
Environment Day Celebrations
Earlier, the Chief Minister participated in Environment Day celebrations at Andhra University engineering college grounds and planted a sapling, along with assembly speaker Ayyanna Patrudu and local MLAs. From there, he cycled to the venue of a star hotel for the seafood exports national workshop, covering 5.5 kilometers.
Andhra University to Become Model Green Campus
The Chief Minister directed Andhra University authorities to transform its sprawling 450-acre campus into a model green and net-zero campus. Observing that the campus currently has around 25 percent green cover, he asked them to double it to 50 percent.
He suggested a series of sustainability measures, including expanding tree plantation across vacant spaces, installing solar panels on campus buildings, generating electricity for self-consumption, developing a biodiversity park, converting organic waste into compost, establishing solid waste management and waste-to-energy systems, producing biogas from biodegradable waste, recycling and reusing wastewater within the campus, promoting PNG and electric cooking systems, and introducing electric bicycles for campus mobility.
Global Knowledge Hub for Environmental Studies
Naidu also proposed the formation of a dedicated team of professors to drive the university’s net-zero mission, adding that Andhra University should emerge as a “global knowledge hub for environmental studies and sustainability”. He further said that the government would implement focused measures to reduce pollution across Visakhapatnam, particularly in areas surrounding the port and industrial zones.
