Guwahati, July 28: Our planet is facing a severe challenge because of global warming induced by climate change that has raised concerns all over with mankind now groping for ways to effectively mitigate it.

It is, however, well accepted that focus must be on protecting and preserving nature and its floral and faunal resources that holds the key to safeguard the planet from the onslaught of global warming and climate change.

Protection of nature needs sustained efforts that must be shouldered by generation after generation. Hence, it is very important to take up long-term initiatives for sensitizing and educating our youngsters about the importance of contributing one’s mite in whatever way possible for them in a sustained manner.

Premier research-based biodiversity conservation organization, Aaranyak (www.aaranyak.org) which has carved a niche for itself in the global platform for relentlessly pursuing its goal of ‘nourishing nature to secure our future’ since 1989, has devised and implemented some programmes for sensitizing and educating the young generation on importance of everyone’s contributions towards protection and preservation of nature and its resources so that the mankind continues to thrive on earth.

A few of such programmes devised by Aaranyak are: ‘Rhino goes to school’, ‘Friends of rhino’ besides holding summer and winter camps for young students on environment awareness and education.

“Rhino goes to school’ focuses organising fun-filled environment education and natural resources protection programmes for the school children where rhino and its habitat protection form the core. Scores of such programmes are conducted by Aaranyak through its expert resource persons to educate hundreds of school children every year so as the impress the young minds for environment and bio resources protection and preservation.

‘Friends of rhino’ has been devised to facilitate high school and higher secondary school level students to visit national parks and other wildlife protection areas to give them the firsthand feeling of these magnificent and high-value biodiversity areas where floral and faunal resources thrive because of round-the-clock protection provided to them.

These students are taught about the importance of these protected areas with different types of habitats and each of the species, both faunal and floral, thrive there for maintaining ecological balance that determines the fate and state of human beings on the earth.  Several such programmes are conducted every year for the benefit of these students so that a pool of new generation conservation workers emerges in near future.

Similarly, summer camps and winter camps are too organized for students by Aaranyak with the purpose catching the young conservation workers and create a pool of enlightened human resources which are going to play a crucial role in future in protecting and preserving the nature and its resources. Such a camp enrolls about 200 students at a time and they are allowed to interact with conservation leaders and experts who also make audio-visual presentations to attract the young student participants.

For instance, the latest summer camp that was organized for students by Aaranyak was at Orang National Park and Tiger Reserve in Darrang district of Assam where over 200 school students participated.   The camp was organised from July 1 to 25, jointly by Aaranyak, Orang National Park authority and Career Today- an educational institute.

The Orang National Park, is a treasure trove of Royal Bengal Tigers, one-horned Indian rhinoceros, pygmy hog, hog deer and a variety of other species of flora and fauna.

During the camp, school teachers and guest teachers imparted academic lessons for 20 days, whereas, the experts in the field sensitized the students on wildlife conservation for 5 days.

Resource persons and conservation leaders from Aaranyak sensitized the student participants in the camp on the importance of biodiversity conservation and gave basic ideas about the various scientific methods and technologies that are now used to bolster the conservation efforts.   They were also told about various ways to pursue a career in the nature conservation field.