Team News Riveting
Raipur, March 1
A one-day workshop was organized by the Forest Department of Chhattisgarh and NGO Earth Retreat Foundation in which a special public awareness campaign was conducted with the aim of protecting the forest and wildlife.
The workshop held at forest village Badbhum under Gurur range of Balod forest division also conversed on effectively curbing the increasing incidents of human-wildlife conflict and developing continuous awareness among the villagers. The main goal of the campaign was to ensure protection of wildlife as well as human life.
The villagers were given detailed information about possible threats from wildlife, safety measures, practical steps to be taken in case of conflict and compensation schemes of the government. To make the campaign effective and accessible to the masses, the message was disseminated by the students through art pictures, posters, rangoli and painting, while the message of awareness was given in simple language through folk dance performances. Due to the innovations, the participation of the villagers was remarkable and the program was seen to take the form of a mass movement.
The NGO ‘Earth Retreat’ played an important role in the campaign, providing active support in public relations, training and awareness activities. To strengthen the message of environmental protection, the resolution of forest-conservation was adopted while promoting the use of various such materials.
Divisional Forest Officer Abhishek Agarwal was the special guest while Janpad President Heerabai and Founder of Earth Retreat Foundation Anubha Dwivedi were special guests at the function.
Addressing the gathering, Abhishek said that maintaining balance between humans and wildlife is the greatest need of the day. “We and forest are friends of each other, this friendship is always growing from generation to generation, this is our priority,” he added. He appealed to protect water sources, exercise vigilance in the forest and immediately inform the department of any wildlife activity.
Information about climate change, biodiversity, vermicompost and self-employment was given by the founder Anubha.
