The
WWF-India, West Bengal State Office conducted a 3 months pilot projects on
documenting the status of 50 key species of trees, birds and butterflies as
part of urban biodiversity documentation. 10 schools were selected from
different corners of the Kolkata to get a overall picture of the urban
biodiversity.
During
these three months, the students collected 1196 records of species. On 22nd April
2015, during the valedictory programme, the participants from schools presented
their finding and also shared their ideas with the experts . The programme was
held in 'Asutosh Birth Centenary Hall' of Indian Museum, Kolkata. The
valedictory programme was organised in association with Indian Museum, Kolkata under Ministry of Culture, Government of
India.
The programme was chaired by Dr. V.Shubhalaxmi, Ladybird
Environmental Counsulting Founder & CEO/ Co-ordinator of Project iNaturewatch; Dr. Soumen Ghosh, Senior Research Officer, West Bengal Biodiversity
Board, Government of West Bengal; Dr. Anirban Gupta, Professor, IIEST; Mr.
Sumanta Bose, Senior Programme Officer, USIEF; Mr. Sayan Bhattacharya,
Education Officer, Indian Museum, Ministry of Culture, Government of India and
Dr. Saswati Sen, State Director, WWF-India, West Bengal. It was an excellent
experience when the students explained how they used the iTrees, iBirds or
iButterflies mobile application and how helpful it was for them to document and
identify the species.
It was interesting to know that the students from
outskirts of Kolkata got an excellent data whereas the city centric schools got
quite less diversity of birds and butterflies. The 'Sarangabad Jajneshwari
Pathshala Girls' High School' won the 1st position with 466 entries and
'Beliaghata High school' got 2nd position, 'Mahadevi Birla World Academy' and
'St. Agnes' Convent School' jointly got the third position."
********
Report by : Mr. Samya Basu, Education Officer, WWF-India, Kolkatta
No comments:
Post a Comment