Lucknow, June 5: Come the World Environment Day and a slew of programmes are organised globally. Lucknow, too, responded by hosting a number of programmes keeping with this year’s theme — Desert and desertification — and the accompanying slogan ‘Don’t desert drylands’.
The United Nations Environment Programme, a UN body, has designated June 5 as the World Environment Day to spread awareness about the state of the environment worldwide. The body decides on the theme and oragnisations observing the day adapt the slogan for their programmes.
The Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies, Lucknow, alongwith Centre for Environment Education organised a workshop on the theme ‘Dryland and desertification (climate change), city planning, waste management and environment’ at the Lucknow University.
The workshop was an attempt to create a platform for non-government organisations in this field to share their experiences. The participants spoke on topics like city planning in China, environmental management in Korea and waste management in Thailand. S P Singh, Special Secretary, department of Urban Development, talked of the impressive development of the ‘Asian Tiger’ economies and wondered why India couldn’t replicate it.
The Institution of Engineers (India), UP Centre and the Indian Water Works Association also organised a programme to mark the day. Prem Vrat, former director, IIT Roorkee, stressed the importance of spreading awareness about environmental issues while Vinod Tare, in his keynote address, dwelt on the nature of drylands and the fact that they cover 40 per cent of the earth’s area and contain a third of the world’s population. The chief guest at the programme was Governor T V Rajeswar. The Governor called upon the people to grow more forest and keep rivers clean, saying ‘‘one must feel pleasure in keeping the environment clean’’.
Meanwhile, Minister for Environment Ujjwal Raman Singh spoke at the City Montessori School, Gomti Nagar, on the need for different sections of society to reflect on the importance of the environment. As many as 36 districts in UP contain drylands. The challenge is to regenerate these lands and provide gainful employment for people living here, he said. The minister pointed out that UP has only 7 per cent of its land under forest cover, which is very low. He claimed the government will try and increase this to 11 per cent.
Even the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) got into the act. Director Suman Preet Singh Khanuja inaugurated a new vermicompost unit. He said the environmental pollution has now become a global problem. A solution lay in planting medicinal plants in dry and waste lands, he said.
The Regional Science Centre, too, organised some interesting events like a tree plantation camp, cartoon contest and quiz to attract children to the cause.
Manwhile, a host of NGOs, scientists, and others gathered to organise a meet at the Hindi Bhavan Sabhagar. They discussed the drylands, especially in Bundelkhand, and the effective ways to regenerate these lands.
