KANPUR: A couple of students from Etawah, selected by the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), north, are to visit Vikramshila Biodiversity Research and Education Centre (VBREC) and Vikramshila Dolphin Sanctuary in Bhagalpur district of Bihar to attend an awareness session on protecting the Gangetic river dolphins, considered an endangered species.
District Inspector of School, Etawah, Gyan Prakash Singh told TOI that Venkatesh Sharma and Sankalp Dwivedi, students of class X at Gyan Sthali Academy, Etawah and their educator Chandrapal Singh, a volunteer of an NGO, Society for Conservation of Nature, will leave for Bhagalpur on Monday night to take part in the two-day awareness session on protecting the Gangetic river dolphins.
"A cluster of nearly 25 schools was formed in the district to work in collaboration with the NGO. The programme included orientation and training for each student and educator," he added.
"It's a unique project of participation of children living near the National Chambal Sanctuary in Etawah region, where according to wildlife experts, the present number of dolphins is believed to be 95 as per a survey conducted recently. The region, which is a habitat of Gangetic river dolphin, includes districts like Faizabad, Allahabad, Varanasi and Bahraich. These districts form part of the dolphin conservation programme," said Rajiv Chauhan, secretary of the NGO.
The session will commence on November 15. Students and their educators selected from nearly 20 districts across the four states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam. There, they will be educated on the dwindling number of Gangetic river dolphins, their breeding period, breeding requirements and protection, besides the importance of not disturbing the habitat of aquatic animals.
It is also planned to rope in the trained students in recently constituted dolphin clubs in schools selected under the programme. This will help students to share their learning, collections, displays and creativeness pertaining to aquatic wildlife.
Recently, 20 districts in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam have been identified for running a two-year-long Gangetic river dolphin conservation education programme in north, east and north-eastern regions of the country.
There are about 2,000 Gangetic river dolphins left in India. The Gangetic river dolphins, known as platanista gangetica, aka 'Susu', are rare. Earlier, it was found in Ganga river basin and all the linked rivers. But now, its habitat is limited to a few rivers. Brahmaputra, Ganga, Chambal rivers are its natural habitats. Gangetic river Dolphins have been included in the Schedule-I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/Gangetic-dolphins-highly-endangered/articleshow/10713828.cms
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