Biodiversity is an oft used term not only in scientific circles but also on international, national and state level political circuits, social work groups and media, courtesy CBD and subsequently Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and other current legislations. But the concept is far from being simple and what follows is that the communication challenges for the issue exist on multiple levels, viz.
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complexity of the problem related to biodiversity issues and relevant solutions;
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relative urgency of the biodiversity issues in the context of habitat loss and climate change;
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competition with other social issues in the media and society.
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The public is deluged with information from many sectors, yet an understanding of basic ecological principles is not achieved. As such, people not only fail to conceptualize connecting biodiversity to their everyday lives, they often feel a sense of hopelessness about the issue. This leads to confusion about what biodiversity is and why it should be cared for. Local aspects of biodiversity tend to get neglected in the media, further perpetuating people’s lack of connection to the issue. |
It is desirable to place biodiversity in a broader sustainability context, which includes lifestyle change and over-consumption issues. The approach or strategy to fulfill such goals is obviously involving people and encouraging them to participate in such activities which promote the goals of a sustainable future. The WBBB has for these reasons initiated large scale awareness generation programmes within its limited capacity to meet the challenge. The PBR exercise being one of them, has been identified as one of the best strategies to create awareness, promote active people’s participation and a sense of belongingness among people for whom biodiversity should matter the most. The WBBB has also organised outreach programmes and awareness programmes for school, college and university students and for stakeholder communities. The WBBB has held a number of meetings with policy makers and administrators during the period under report. It has also undertaken publications to take the message to the common people, viz., books, booklets, pamphlets, brochures, popular articles, journal papers and newspaper articles. The Board is also preparing audio visual programmes in Bengali and English for message communication. The West Bengal Biodiversity Board has till date organized or particiapted in a number of awareness programmes by giving financial support and providing relevant expertise in colleges, universities and other local bodies of Kolkata and other districts of West Bengal. The details are highlighted:
Sl No. |
Name of the Colleges |
Date |
1. |
Acharya Prafulla Chandra College, 24 Parganans (N) |
21.03.2006 |
2. |
New Alipore College, Kolkata |
23.03.2006 |
3. |
Jalpaiguri Pharmacy College, Jalpaiguri |
25.03.2005 |
4. |
Scottish Church College, Kolkata |
29.03.2006 |
5. |
Maharajadhiraj Uday Chand Women’s College, Burdwan |
02.04.2006 |
6. |
Sripat Singh College, Jiaganj, Murshidabad |
17.04.2006 |
7. |
Asutosh College, Kolkata |
05.05.2006 |
8. |
Bankura Sammilani College, Bankura |
03.05.2006 |
9. |
Viswabharati University, Birbhum |
09.12.2006 - 10.12.2006 |
10. |
Krishnagar Government College, Nadia |
05.01.2007 |
11. |
Rishra Muncipality, Hooghly |
10.01.2007 |
12. |
Beharampore, Murshidabad |
12.01.2007 |
13. |
Brahmananda Keshabchandra College, Belgharia |
09.02.2007 |
14. |
Vidyasagar College, Kolkata |
31.03.2007 |
15. |
University of Kalyani, Nadia |
12.04.2007 - 13.04.2007 |
16. |
Goghat II Panchayat Samiti Office, Hooghly |
01.07.2007 |
17. |
ABN Seal College, Coochbehar |
17.03.2007 |
18. |
The Zoological Society, Kolkata |
23.03.2007 - 25.03.2007 |
19. |
Kanchanjunga Stadium, PBVM, Darjeeling |
09.06.2007 - 10.06.2007 |
20. |
Bidhan Nagar Government College, Kolkata |
21.07.2007 |
21. |
Gour Mahavidyalaya, Malda |
25.08.2007 |
22. |
Balagarh Bijoy Krishna Mahavidyalaya, Hooghly |
25.12.2007 - 7.01.2008 |
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The objective of these workshops is to disseminate awareness regarding biodiversity and to sensitize the students and teachers regarding the issues pertinent to biodiversity conservation, documentation and judicious use of the same. The Board has also taken this opportunity to popularize the activities of the newly formed West Bengal Biodiversity Board among this important target group. As such, the programme schedule of these workshops not only gave the participants an overview of biodiversity matters but also made them aware about the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, matters related to Intellectual Property Rights and biodiversity, the activities being undertaken by the West Bengal Biodiversity Board for actualization of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and also methodology of preparing People’s Biodiversity Registers. Such programmes have been initiated as it has been felt necessary to involve as many students as possible in future PBR activities and as Post Workshop activities. |
Apart from these the WBBB organised a day long programme on ‘Awareness cum discussion on the Biological Diversity Act, 2002’ with representatives of different Departments/ Institutions and policy makers as participants on 6th March, 2007.
The WBBB also participated in a Training programme organized by the State Institute for Panchayat and Rural Development (SIPRD) for Administrative Officers at Kalyani on 13th March, 2007 on request from the Panchayat and Rural Development Department, GoWB.
Trainers Training Camp
A two day workshop on PBR activities at Budgebudge College was organized by WBBB and the Zoology and Botany Departments of Budgebudge college. Forty participants, mostly school and college teachers, school students and some representatives of NGO took part in the workshop. Prof. M. Gadgil, Dr. A.K.Ghosh, Prof. S. Banerjee and other eminent speakers delivered speeches in this workshop. A field orientation camp on PBR was also arranged for the participants in a village, about 16 km. away from the venue, to let them have a first hand exposure in PBR work.
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