National Conference on “Biodiversity Conservation: Embracing our Future, Preserving our Past.”

Report on National Conference on “Biodiversity Conservation:

Embracing our Future, Preserving our Past.”

Day 1

The Inaugural ceremony of the conference was held at ISIM Auditorium on 27 September, 2013.It began with the invocation of Goddess Saraswati  followed by  lighting  of the lamp.

The Chief Guest of the Conference, Shri U.M Sahay, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Rajasthan and  the Keynote Speaker, Dr. V.B. Mathur, Dean, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun were formally welcomed by Dr. Ashok Gupta, Vice Chancellor The IIS University and Prof. Pradeep Bhatnagar, Dean Faculty of Life Science with floral greetings.

Shri U.M. Sahay  declared the conference open and highlighted the role of youth  and academia in taking bold measures towards Biodiversity Conservation. The audience was appraised  with the Conference  Aims and Objectives by  Prof. Pradeep Bhatnagar  who called for proper management of biodiversity resources so as to maintain the delicate  ecological balance. Keynote speaker Dr. V.B. Mathur in his address on Issues ,Challenges and Way Ahead discussed the National Environmental Policy(NEP), 2006 and other measures taken to deal with the emerging challenges  of Biodiversity Conservation by professionalizing the approach and methodology  towards the  management of natural resources. The  Inaugural ceremony concluded with a formal vote of thanks by the Organizing Secretary, Dr. Shilpi Rijhwani.

A total of 4 technical sessions were conducted after inauguration, which included 46 oral presentations and 93 poster presentations.

Chairpersons for the Technical session  included Senior Scientists as Prof. Amla Batra ,Prof. S. Kshetrapal, Prof. Sudhakar Mishra, Prof. Ashish Bhatnagar, Prof. Kailash Agrawal and Dr. Fatima Sultana.  Invited Lectures were delivered by Prof. R.C. Upadhyay, Principal Scientist, DMR, Solan(H.P.);  Prof. P.P Bakre Advisor Emkay Enviro Agency, Jaipur; Dr. V.Bhaskar Ramana Murthy ,Director Andhra Pradesh Forest Academy, Hyderabad ; Dr. Monica Bhatnagar, Algal biofuel Lab, MDS University, Ajmer etc. The Conference was attended by 250 delegates and experts on Biodiversity.

Day 2.

The most interesting part of the conference was the field visit to Nahargarh Fort where all the Delegates were received by the popular biodiversty expert Dr. S.K. Sharma, ACF, Udaipur. The 3 hour field visit was marked by his very interesting and informative lecture on the biodiversity of Nahargarh and its related traditional aspects reflecting the management skills of the organisms and their relationships.

The last technical session was adressed by Dr. G.V. Reddy Addl. PCCF, Rajasthan at Nahargarh Fort and was followed by Valediction Ceremony at 3:30  P.M. The 2-day conference filled everybody with a sense of greater responsibility  towards taking steps at individual  as well as societal  level for conserving  our valuable biodiversity.Gallery