Mohammad Amir Rashid, president of Dara Shikoh Foundation wrote a letter to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) over Pakistan damaging walls of cultural Heritage site 'Sharda Peeth' located in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. The President of Dara Shikoh Shikoh Foundation has written to the Director General of UNESCO demanding action against the Government of Pakistan for deliberately damaging some walls of Sharda Peeth for the expansion of a coffee house for Pakistani soldiers inside Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. Mohammad Amir Rashid said "We have written a letter to the Director General of UNESCO, who has recently given the place of Vice President to Pakistan and the site was Sharda Peeth, which was declared a cultural heritage, yet the Pakistani government there has deliberately damaged some walls of Sharda Peeth for the expansion of a coffee house being built for Pakistani soldiers inside POK. while there is also a court order that it has to preserve the cultural heritage, despite that, the Pakistani army deliberately hurt the sentiments of the Indian people and especially the beliefs of the Hindu people across the country on the anniversary of 26/11." The president of Dara Shikoh Foundation also mentioned another temple in his letter to the UNESCO which has been systematically damaged. "This incident has been specifically carried out so that their radical thinking gets promoted somewhere and under the guise of a coffee house, they are damaging the Sharda Peeth despite the strict instructions of the Supreme Court. There is also Hinglaj temple there and within three-four weeks the temples have been systematically damaged," Mohammad Amir Rashid added. He further demanded that the UNESCO should take action in the matter and must take rehabilitation and conservation work in it's hand. "We have demanded in the letter that the UNESCO Director General should call the local representative and since UNESCO itself has declared it as cultural heritage, then rehabilitation and revival of Sharda Peeth should be done to conserve it," he added. Sharada Peeth is a ruined Hindu temple and ancient centre of learning located in the Neelum Valley of PoK. It is situated in the valley of Mount Harmukh, believed by Kashmiri Pandits to be the abode of Shiva. The reconstruction of Maa Sharda's temple in Kupwara is a necessary and important step in the direction of the discovery of Sharda civilisation and the promotion of Sharda-script. As one of the Maha Shakti Peethas, Hindus believe that it represents the spiritual location of the Goddess Sati's fallen right hand. Sharada Peeth is one of the three holiest sites of pilgrimage for Kashmiri Pandits, alongside the Martand Sun Temple and the Amarnath Temple.   Source: ANI

The first full assessment of risks to the world's coffee plants shows that 60% of 124 known species are on the edge of extinction. More than 100 types of coffee tree grow naturally in forests, including two used for the coffee we drink, reports BBC. Scientists say the figure is "worrying", as wild coffee is critical for sustaining the global coffee crop. About one in five of the world's plants is threatened with extinction, and the 60% figure is an "extremely high" one. "If it wasn't for wild species we wouldn't have as much coffee to drink in the world today," said Dr Aaron Davis of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. "Because if you look at the history of coffee cultivation, we have used wild species to make the coffee crop sustainable." Research published in the journal, Science Advances, found conservation measures were "inadequate" for wild coffees, including those considered "critical" for long-term global coffee production. The study found that 75 wild coffee species are considered threatened with extinction, 35 are not threatened and too little is known about the remaining 14 to make any judgement. Furthermore, it was found that 28% of wild coffee species grow outside protected areas and only about half are preserved in seed banks. A second study, in Global Change Biology, found that wild Arabica coffee can be classed as threatened under official (IUCN Red List) rankings, when climate change projections are taken into account. Its natural population is likely to shrink by up to 50% or more by 2088 because of climate change alone, according to the research. Wild Arabica is used to supply seeds for coffee farming and also as a harvested crop in its own right. Ethiopia is the home of Arabica coffee, where it grows naturally in upland rainforests. "Given the importance of Arabica coffee to Ethiopia, and to the world, we need to do our utmost to understand the risks facing its survival in the wild," said Dr Tadesse Woldemariam Gole, of the Environment and Coffee Forest Forum in Addis Ababa. What is wild coffee and why do we need it? Many coffee drinkers are unaware that we only use the coffee beans from two species - Coffea Arabica and Coffea robusta - in the thousands of different blends of coffee on sale. In fact, there are 122 coffee species on top of that which occur naturally in the wild. Many of these wild coffees do not taste good to drink, but may contain genes that can be harnessed to help coffee plants survive in the future, amid climate change and emerging diseases that attack coffee trees. In the longer term, we will need to call on wild species to safeguard the future of the world's coffee crop, say researchers. "We will call on those wild resources time and time again," said Dr Davis. How does coffee compare to other plants in terms of extinction risks? Globally, about one in five plants is threatened with extinction, compared with 60% for coffee. As a comparison, about half of wild tea and mango species are threatened with extinction, 6% of hazelnuts and 9% of pistachios. Where is wild coffee found? The vast majority of wild coffee grows in the remote forests of Africa and on the island of Madagascar. Beyond Africa, wild coffee is found in other tropical climates, including parts of India, Sri Lanka, and Australia. What types of coffee do we drink? Global coffee trade relies on two species - Arabica (Coffea arabica) and Robusta (Coffea canephora). A third species - Liberica (Coffea liberica) is grown around the world, but is rarely used for coffee drinks. What are crop wild relatives? Crop wild relatives are wild plants that are genetically related to cultivated crops. They continue to evolve in the wild, and can be crossed with domesticated crops. They have been used to improve the yields and nutritional quality of crops since the dawn of agriculture. What are scientists calling for? They say we must understand the risks to coffee farming and make sure we have the resources in place to overcome threats. Coffee trees, like many tropical plants, have seeds that do not survive the freeze-drying process used in conventional seed banks - 45% of coffee species have not been "backed up" outside the wild. Dr Eimear Nic Lughadha of Kew said this is the first time an IUCN Red List assessment has been carried out to find the extinction risk of the world's coffee, and the figure of 60% is "extremely high". "We hope this new data will highlight species to be prioritised for the sustainability of the coffee production sector, so that appropriate action can be taken to safeguard the species," she said.   MHK