VILNIUS (Lithuania): India, home to rich amber deposits that date back 50 million years, has now been invited to join the World Amber Road — an exhaustive global project being spearheaded by the United Nations to develop tourism routes that run through areas rich in amber — commonly called natural gold, much like the Silk Route.
In a letter of invitation to India sent this month (a copy of which is available with TOI), the secretary general of the World Tourism Organization of the UN (UNWTO) Taleb Rifai and the director general of Lithuania's state tourism department Raimonda Balniene have invited India to share its rich knowledge of amber deposits in Gujarat and help develop the virtual Amber Road.
The initial part of the Amber Road project — the Lithuanian Amber Road — will be unveiled to the world on December 19 at Vilnius during the second world amber conference.
The idea to create the World Amber Road on the lines of the Silk Route — to map age old international trading points of amber was actually first floated by Lithuania in June 2012.
Amber is a fossilized resin that takes millions of years to form and turn into stone. It is created through a defence mechanism of certain kinds of trees. When the bark is punctured, a sticky resin oozes out to seal the damage. It is usually yellow or orange in colour and transparent. Once the resin is expelled, it hardens and drops, eventually getting buried.
Over the next few thousand years, this resin gets fossilized and turns to stone.
Several countries which are home to amber deposits — Russia, Poland, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine and Austria have joined the project.
Hungary, Georgia, Jordan, Mexico and Dominican Republic — home to the rarest blue amber are expected to join the project during the December 19 conference.
In a letter to Anand Kumar, joint secretary in India's ministry of tourism, Taleb Rifai and Dr Raimonda Balniene have written that, "The Lithuanian state tourism department and the UNWTO has initiated the creation of World Amber Road — an ambitious project aiming to promote and to better position the countries along the Amber Road as unique tourism destinations. Amber represents a shared heritage. The creation of the Amber Road offering amber related tourism products would generate new tourism routes, new jobs and new cultural and creative industries."
In an exclusive interview to TOI, Dr Balniene said, "In Lithuania, the Baltic sea is a great source of amber. Though amber is found in several other countries of the world including India, Lithuanian amber is the only one which has 8% pure amber acid in it — known for its healing properties and used in 74 other services like fashion, design, jewellery and gastronomy. Amber is our gold. Indian amber is ancient and we are hoping India will join in developing the World Amber Road."
"Amber Road will be a virtual product route. There will be a webpage on each country and the history and modern use of their amber deposits. The first such page — that of amber in Luthuania will be unveiled in December," Dr Balniene added.
Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite recently met Taleb Rifai to discuss the level of international cooperation UNWTO was receiving in creating the global Amber Road.
More than 700 new species of ancient insects were recently discovered in 50-million-year-old amber in India.
The discoveries came from 150kg of amber produced by an ancient rainforest in India.
The amber, dubbed Cambay amber, was found in lignite mines in the Cambay Shale of Gujarat.
India invited to join UN's World Amber Road project - The Times of India
In a letter of invitation to India sent this month (a copy of which is available with TOI), the secretary general of the World Tourism Organization of the UN (UNWTO) Taleb Rifai and the director general of Lithuania's state tourism department Raimonda Balniene have invited India to share its rich knowledge of amber deposits in Gujarat and help develop the virtual Amber Road.
The initial part of the Amber Road project — the Lithuanian Amber Road — will be unveiled to the world on December 19 at Vilnius during the second world amber conference.
The idea to create the World Amber Road on the lines of the Silk Route — to map age old international trading points of amber was actually first floated by Lithuania in June 2012.
Amber is a fossilized resin that takes millions of years to form and turn into stone. It is created through a defence mechanism of certain kinds of trees. When the bark is punctured, a sticky resin oozes out to seal the damage. It is usually yellow or orange in colour and transparent. Once the resin is expelled, it hardens and drops, eventually getting buried.
Over the next few thousand years, this resin gets fossilized and turns to stone.
Several countries which are home to amber deposits — Russia, Poland, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine and Austria have joined the project.
Hungary, Georgia, Jordan, Mexico and Dominican Republic — home to the rarest blue amber are expected to join the project during the December 19 conference.
In a letter to Anand Kumar, joint secretary in India's ministry of tourism, Taleb Rifai and Dr Raimonda Balniene have written that, "The Lithuanian state tourism department and the UNWTO has initiated the creation of World Amber Road — an ambitious project aiming to promote and to better position the countries along the Amber Road as unique tourism destinations. Amber represents a shared heritage. The creation of the Amber Road offering amber related tourism products would generate new tourism routes, new jobs and new cultural and creative industries."
In an exclusive interview to TOI, Dr Balniene said, "In Lithuania, the Baltic sea is a great source of amber. Though amber is found in several other countries of the world including India, Lithuanian amber is the only one which has 8% pure amber acid in it — known for its healing properties and used in 74 other services like fashion, design, jewellery and gastronomy. Amber is our gold. Indian amber is ancient and we are hoping India will join in developing the World Amber Road."
"Amber Road will be a virtual product route. There will be a webpage on each country and the history and modern use of their amber deposits. The first such page — that of amber in Luthuania will be unveiled in December," Dr Balniene added.
Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite recently met Taleb Rifai to discuss the level of international cooperation UNWTO was receiving in creating the global Amber Road.
More than 700 new species of ancient insects were recently discovered in 50-million-year-old amber in India.
The discoveries came from 150kg of amber produced by an ancient rainforest in India.
The amber, dubbed Cambay amber, was found in lignite mines in the Cambay Shale of Gujarat.
India invited to join UN's World Amber Road project - The Times of India
