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Pushpa Gujral Science City celebrated World Wetlands Day on February 2, 2023 by organizing an expert lecture and Poetry Competition for school students. The event was attended by about 180 nos of school students and teachers. The expert lecture was organized on topic “Anthropocene: Where do we stand in terms of Ecological Restoration”. Dr. Himender Bharti, Director, Centre for Restoration of Ecosystem of Punjab, Professor and Former Head, Department of Zoology and Environmental Sciences, Punjabi University, Patiala was the resource person. During his talk, he highlighted that the current ecological crisis is the outcome of various threats, which include habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation, habitat degradation, overexploitation of biological resources, spread of invasive species, pollution, diseases, and global climate change. This has led to unprecedented extinction rates of species. He further added that the wetlands biodiversity is also severely affected. As per the current scenario more than 35% of world’s wetlands have disappeared in the last 50 years. The human impact is such that the current epoch has been dubbed as Anthropocene. In such a situation, the role of conservation biology and restoration ecology has become significant. Thus, to conserve biodiversity, to replenish the ecosystems, we must have a thorough understanding of organisms and ecosystems. We need a participative approach, adaptive management, holistic thinking and long-term planning for sustainable management of biodiversity resources. A poetry competition was also organized in which about 30 nos of students participated.
Winners of Poetry competition
1st Prize: Gurleen Kaur from Guru Amar Dass Public School, Goindwal Sahib Road, Kapurthala
2nd Prize: Navdeep Kaur from Shri Guru Harkrishan Public School, RCF, Kapurthala
3rd Prize: Baldesh Singh, Govt. Sr. Sec. School, Wadala Kalan, Kapurthala
Artificial islands were also released by school students in Science City water body to provide spawning habitat for aquatic birds.
