U’khand Council for Science & Technology celebrates World Wildlife Day
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 3 Mar: World Wildlife Day-2021 was celebrated at the Uttarakhand Council for Science & Technology here, today, in joint collaboration with UCOST and NASI UK Chapter. The theme for this year is – “Forest (WL) & Livelihood: Sustaining People & Planet”. The programme was attended by Chief Guest Kunal Satyarthi, Principal, Central Academy for State Forest Service (CASFOS), Dehradun; Dr Rajendra Dobhal, Director General, UCOST; GS Rautela, Advisor, Science City, Dehradun; and Dr DP Uniyal, Joint Director, UCOST.
Dr Aparna, Senior Scientific Officer, UCOST, briefed the participants about the programme. Dr Dobhal welcomed all the guest and participants. He said that this year’s theme perfectly matched in its context with Uttarakhand. He also focused on human-wildlife conflict across the world.
Chief Guest Kunal Satyarthi delivered the keynote lecture. He said that the forest bank is the only bank in the world that always gives but never takes back anything. Quoting Albert Einstein, he said, “If bees go extinct from the surface of the Earth, man would have no more than three years left to live.” Satyarthi pointed out that Nature had blessed India with abundant biodiversity – 200 forest types and very high degree of endemism in reptile and amphibian species. However, it is distressing to know that due to uncontrolled anthropogenic activities, species are becoming extinct at an alarming rate of about 150 species per day. Stressing upon the significance of the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) provision of the Biodiversity Act 2002, he said that biodiversity conservation efforts would be successful only through community involvement and ensuring that the last person in every village gets its benefits. He urged the audience to pledge to minimise use of polythene as the most meaningful takeaway of celebrating World Wildlife Day.
Dr DP Uniyal proposed the vote of thanks. The session was quite interactive. Students questioned the speakers. Approximately 150 participants from Beehive College, Dehradun; Tula’s Institute, Dehradun; BFIT, Dehradun; Shivalik College of Engineering, Dehradun; Uttaranchal University, Dehradun; Dolphin Institute of Biomedical & Natural Sciences, Dehradun and UCOST staff attended the programme.
