GUWAHATI, June 6: Innovation aided by an indomitable spirit seeped in positivity holds the key to carry on with our work and life under COVID-induced gloom and unrelenting restrictions.
World Environment Day (WED) is an occasion that provides us with an opportunity to expose our progeny to various aspects of the environment and its importance in sustaining life on the earth.
Region’s frontline biodiversity conservation and research organisation Aaranyak observed a technology-aided WED under Covid-induced shackled working environment, to boost their untiring efforts to raise awareness level among the younger generation on various aspects of wildlife and conservation.
The organisation conducted an Online Poster Competition and a classroom webinar.
The Online Poster Making Competition for children was for classes 8-10 in various schools of Guwahati metropolitan area. As part of their broader educational outreach programme with regard to “Wildlife – Conservation and Crime“, Aaranyak held the competition (one of many others planned) to encourage the students to conduct individual research into the topic of wildlife conservation and wildlife crime, as opposed to only sitting down for talks.
Under the theme of this year’s World Environment Day “Ecological Restoration” Aaranyak invited school students to share their creatives connecting ecosystem restoration to conservation of lesser-known wildlife species who are silent victims of Illegal Wildlife Trade all over the world.
There was an overwhelming response and the judges had to really dig in deep to finalize the winners. All aspects of creativity, drawing and theme were taken into consideration while deciding the winners. The names of the winners are provided below.
- Ayan Ali (Class 8, Sarala Birla Gyan Jyoti, Amingaon)
- Anuja B. Tanaya (Class 10, Sarala Birla Gyan Jyoti, Amingaon)
- Gitartha Kalita (Class 10, Maharishi Public School, Bezera)
In addition, to mark the occasion of World Environment Day, students and teachers of Delhi Public School, Guwahati attended a webinar on – Wildlife Conservation and Crime, organised by Aaranyak.
The speakers of the session were Ms. Ivy Farheen Hussain, Project Officer, Tiger Research and Conservation Division and Dr. Jimmy Borah, Senior Manager, Legal and Advocacy Division, both from Aaranyak.
Ms. Hussain in her presentation focussed on Wildlife conservation, its issues, importance and necessity for conservation of both large and the lesser-known wildlife species. She highlighted urban wildlife and also talked about how students can contribute in this field and encouraged them to participate in conservation from the current stage.
Dr. Borah gave a general perspective on Wildlife Crime and the role of Forest Department, Enforcement Agencies in accordance with Wildlife Protection Act (1972). His presentation focused on the types of general wildlife crime in our region, the most vulnerable species and why they are sought after.
He talked about measures to prevent wildlife crime by poachers and illegal trading of animal parts in the name of traditional medicine and culture. He also explained the relation between increased wildlife trade and incidence of zoonotic diseases.
The webinar was followed by an interactive session with the students, in which apart from interesting questions by the students, various ways of creating awareness at their level was discussed by the resource persons.
