Ahead of the World Environment Day, observed every year on June 5, the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) organised a national workshop on this year’s theme, ‘Go Wild For Life Zero Tolerance for the Illegal Wildlife Trade,’ here on Wednesday, to build up the momentum before the major event.
United Nations Development Project (UNDP) State Project Coordinator Dr. K. Thulasi Rao, hailing India as a country with a great biodiversity, related his experiences while working with the Forest Department. With respect to the general notion embedded among people about forest-dwellers,
Dr. Rao asserted that the impression about wild animals being cruel should be done away with. “If that was really the case, none of the tribals and forest department officials would be alive. For the past 42 years, we have been in and out of forest areas, sharing our space with the animals. They are our friends and it is our responsibility to conserve biodiversity of the region,” he said.
Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration (YASHADA) Secretary Dr. Bharat Bhushan spoke on ‘Conservation of Endangered Wildlife and Threatened Habitats in Southern Andhra Pradesh’.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) State Director Farida Tampal held an interactive session with the children and later spoke on ‘Conservation of Wildlife – Role of WWF’.
The participants at the day-long workshop discussed in depth the prevailing issues and laws and were to suggest necessary actions to address the problems. Imran Siddiqui of the Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society, Joint Chief Environmental Engineer (Kurnool) T. Rajendra Reddy and other officials took part in the event.
‘Plant saplings’
Earlier, ‘Kala Jatha’ artistes performed a programme elucidating on the importance of growing trees and on the various advantages linked to it. With a large number of students present in the audience, the artistes staged an interactive session interspersed with songs and dance, to drive home the point.
UNDP State Project Coordinator K. Thulasi Rao says it is our responsibility to conserve biodiversity
