Celebration of Wildlife Week

Pushpa Gujral Science City celebrated Wildlife Week from October 2-8, 2022 to create enthusiasm among masses for wildlife conservation and to highlight the crucial role wildlife resources play in achieving Sustainable Development Goals. A webinar on World Habitat Day on October 3, 2022, on “Status of Faunal Diversity and their Conservation in India” was organized. Dr. Gaurav Sharma, Scientist-E and Officer-in-charge, Northern Regional Centre of Zoological Survey of India, Dehradun was the resource person. Dr. Sharma said that the synthesis of the available relevant literature and studies carried out by researchers at ZSI and other different related research/academic institutes of India indicates that 1,03,258 species of animals/fauna belongs to 26 phylums of Kingdoms Protista (Protozoa) and Animalia (including 66,363 Insects species) recorded so far from India till 31st December, 2021, out of 16,79,523 species in the world. With only 2.4% of the world’s land area, India accounts for 6.1% of its recorded faunal species. He further added that biological resources have traditionally been a major source of food for local inhabitants and of major economic value in terms of commercial exploitation. The human exploitation of biological resources has increased dramatically in the last few decades for reasons, both commerce and subsistence living. Around 100 students and teachers from all over Punjab participated in this webinar. A Bird Watching and Birds Nest Making activity was organized for school students on October 5-6, 2022 as a part of Wildlife Week Celebration.