Bhubaneswar: The World Environment Day was observed Wednesday by different organisations in the Capital city. The theme for this year was ‘Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience’ and the slogan ‘Our land, our future. We are Generation Restoration.’ The Orissa Environmental Society (OES) observed the day at the society’s conference hall under the chairmanship of OES president Sundara Narayana Patro.
Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) director Debasis Dash attended the programme as chief guest and the director of Centre for Environment and Climate at SOA University, Sarat Chandra Sahu attended as chief speaker. Dash, in his speech, said, “Land being the source of food production and other resources for humans as well as all terrestrial living organisms, we need to undertake restoration activities and prevent its degradation.”
Speaking at the occasion, Sahu narrated how land degradation and desertification are intensifying as a consequence of repeated occurrences of droughts sequel to climate change. In his address, Patro highlighted how increased pollution and degradation of land is causing various health issues for human beings as well as for other organisms. On this occasion, former engineer-in-chief and eminent water resources management expert Ramesh Chandra Tripathy was conferred with the ‘Water Man of Odisha Award’ and Pravat Kumar Dash, distinguished cardiologist and director of cardiology, PGIMER Capital Hospital was awarded the ‘Lifetime Contribution to Health Services Award’. Similarly, Baman Chandra Acharya, a former professor of Botany was presented with the ‘Environmentalist of the Year Award’ and Sukant Patnaik was awarded with ‘Green Crusader Award’ by the chief guest.
On the occasion, the Young Climate Leaders Action Project (YCLAP) was launched at the Bakul Library. YCLAP started as a joint initiative between Bakul Foundation and the US Consulate General, Hyderabad in 2021 after the US President Joe Biden took office and renewed his country’s commitment to climate action. Fifteen young people had been selected from the state for the YCLAP on the basis of their demonstrated environmental consciousness and commitment towards environmental action. Few of them received the opportunities to be recognised as the climate leaders internationally. Three of them, Deepsha Dhal, Soumya Ranjan Biswal and Jayprakash Nayak were among the 20 Climate Champions from India who were chosen to be a part of the International Climate Action Champions Network (CACN) created by ORF and the US Embassy. The CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology here also celebrated WED as part of the JIGYASA programme. On the occasion, tree plantation drive was conducted on the campus.