Hyderabad,
April 17th, 2015: ‘Mobile Apps for
Climate Change’ an innovative initiative designed for today’s technology driven
student body was launched on December 9th, 2014 by WWF-India and
Ladybird Environmental Consulting (LEC) in association with the L V Prasad Eye
Institute (LVPEI). As a part of this initiative, a citizen science programme
the ‘Urban iNatureWatch’ challenge was initiated wherein 600+ students from 7
schools of Hyderabad were engaged in documenting their campus biodiversity with
the help of these mobile apps on trees, birds and butterflies. During these
four months, students were uploading their data onto the inaturewatch website
and at the end of the challenge, we received 1257 observations from schools of
Hyderabad.
To begin the programme,
Ms Farida Tampal, Director, WWF- Hyderabad Office
presented her welcome address where she said, ‘WWF applauds
the work and commitment of the schools for adopting this new pedagogy and the
students for actively participating as student-scientists in the ‘Urban
iNatureWatch’ Challenge’. She also mentioned, ‘Students should continue with
their data collection and you will observe the variations in the occurrence and
distribution of species in the three major seasons. We will analyze your data
after 6 months and will felicitate the winning school during the Wildlife Week
in October. We will also organize a trip to the nearby protected areas for five
dedicated students from each school to expose them to the forest biodiversity
and enhance their interest towards appreciating nature ’.
Speaking on the
occasion, Dr Taraprasad Das, Vice-Chair
of LVPEI mentioned that, ‘By participating in these programmes, apart from
being able to identify and record species, students also need to start
developing innovative concepts that would support development that is
environment-friendly and less harmful to the natural resources’.
This was followed by a
brief project overview by Ms Karishma Pradhan, Education Officer, Hyderabad
Office, WWF-India. She mentioned about the orientation and outdoor visits that
were conducted for the schools and her observations on how the mobile apps had
helped students develop an interest towards their natural surroundings. She
also mentioned the enthusiastic support that she received from the faculty and
students as a part of this challenge.
Post this, students from
each school came forward and presented their findings, observations, methodologies
and experiences of being a part of the ‘Urban iNatureWatch’ challenge. During
their presentations, students of each school expressed their new found interest
in connecting with Nature.
In the second session
of the valedictory programme, we had the
Guests of Honour Ms April Wells, Public
Affairs Officer, US Consulate and Dr. C. Suvarna, IFS, Member Secretary Telangana State Biodiversity
Board, Mr Anil Kumar V Epur, Chairman, WWF-Hyderabad Office and Ms Neha Kanitkar, Alumni Relations Coordinator - Public Affairs Section, US
Consulate who joined us for the
programme.
Each guest was invited to briefly address the students and they appreciated
the initiative and motivated students to elevate their interest and contribute
towards building an environment conscious society.
After the addresses, the dignitaries were requested to
give away the trophy and the prizes to the winners of the ‘Urban iNatureWatch
Challenge’.
The winners of the challenge are
as follows:
The second runner up was Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavans Atmakuri Rama Rao School with a total of 103
observations.
The first runner up was Hyderabad
Public School with a total of 350 observations.
The winning school was Meridian
School with a total of 615 observations.
The other participating
schools were Bharatiya Vidya Bhavans Public School, Oxford Grammar School,
Iqbalia International School and Chirec International School who also actively
contributed towards this citizen
science
programme.
Dr V. Shubhalaxmi, Founder & Director, Ladybird Environmental
Consulting in her concluding remarks expressed her contentment on the
outcome of the project. She also congratulated Hyderabad Schools for standing
out with the highest number of observations’. She has requested
schools to continue this initiative in the upcoming academic year with the same
zest.
The pilot phase of the ‘Urban
iNatureWatch Challenge’ received a great response from Hyderabad and we hope to
scale this up in the near future.
Report by Ms. Karishma Pradhan, Education Officer, WWF-India, Hyderabad