School students celebrated World Wildlife day at Indroda Nature Park
Gandhinagar: Gujarat Council on Science & Technology (GUJCOST) in collaboration with GEER Foundation organised a day-long programme and outreach activities for school students at Indroda Nature Park, Gandhinagar to mark the celebration of World Wildlife Day today.
The World Wildlife Day has been celebrated since 2013 by the United Nations to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet”.
About 100 school students from in and around Gandhinagar participated in the programme and had a walk-through and guided tour inside the Indroda Nature Park. They explored the Wilderness Park which is home to innumerable species of birds, reptiles, snake house, Blackbuck, deer, Asiatic lion Nilgais, Langurs and Peafowls in its vast forest.
Interacting with the students, Shri R. D. Kamboj, Director GEER Foundation expressed that wildlife is an important part of the natural resources and they play an important role in balancing the environment. Wildlife and nature have been largely associated with humans for emotional and social reasons. The importance of wildlife can be categorized as ecological, economic and investigatory importance as well as conservation of biological diversities and so on.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Narottam Sahoo explained that our life is almost impossible without the support of wildlife. It plays a very crucial role in our life. Plants give shelter to the animals and together they maintain our ecosystem for our survival.
The programme highlighted the central role of forests, forest species and ecosystems services in sustaining the livelihoods of the local communities. Shri Alap Pandit, Nature Educator, GEER Foundation, Shri Jatin Pandya, Scientific Officer, Shri Vimal Paradia from GUJCOST coordinated the student’s activities and forest trail in the context of COVID 19 protocols.
As a part of the programme, the students participated in the sit-and-draw competition and drew the images of forests and wildlife as they explored during their forest trail. At the concluding session, the students received prizes and certificates.