BHUBANESWAR, Odisha: Tusharkanti Behera, Minister of State for Electronics & IT, Sports & Youth Services and Home, Government of Odisha, unveiled a “Factsheet on Coastal Wetlands” prepared as part of the “World Wetlands Day 2023” actions by Youth4WaterIndia campaign at the Kushabhadra mouth of Bay of Bengal near Konark on February 2. Minister Behera also invited the youth to participate in the campaign actively and be champions in conservation activities to protect our wetlands during the function organised by the School of Sustainability, XIM University, to unveil the Factsheet.
Pradeep Kumar Jena, IAS, Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Odisha, also unveiled the Factsheet, remotely during which he said he was happy to unveil the Factsheet on Coastal Wetlands prepared by the Youth4WaterIndia campaign, Wetlands International South Asia and other partners to raise awareness and action among youths on World Wetlands Day 2023 and wished for the success of the campaign.
Ranjan Panda, Water Man of Odisha and Co-founder of the Youth4WaterIndia campaign, informed that the Factsheet gives an introductory understanding of coastal wetlands and tips to youths on what they can do to conserve these precious coastal commons as well as other wetlands. He then thanked the Wetlands International South Asia office for the technical and other support they provided for the preparation of this Factsheet. Panda also thanked the School of Sustainability, XIM University, and Bhubaneswar for having partnered with the campaign and for organising the Sustainability Summit and wetlands day action programmes at the Kushabhadra mouth, where about a hundred youths and other experts participated in beach cleaning and other local conservation actions, under the guidance of Professor Sutapa Pati who is also the Dean of the institution.
Panda then revealed that a photography competition for youths on the theme “Wetlands and Us” has been announced by the Youth4WaterIndia campaign as part of its World Wetlands Day 2023 exercises. Apart from that, a drawing and painting competition on Wetlands will be organised on February 5, at Sambalpur. In addition to that, an exposure-cum-interaction programme has also been planned for youths, where they will be taken to the Hirakud Ramsar Site as part of the celebrations on February 12.
Apart from the partners of the campaign, Wetlands International South Asia, Foundation for Ecological Security, United National Environment Programme (UNEP), School of Sustainability XIM University, Global Environment Facility (GEF), Mahanadi River Waterkeeper, Sambalpur Wildlife Division, JCI Sambalpur, Sambalpur Kala Academy, Yuva Udayan, Rotary Club of Sambalpur Greater and Water Initiatives will be participating in these wetland day activities.