Celebration of World Environment Day 2021 and webinar on “UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration” was organized by the Department of Geology of North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) in collaboration with the Shillong chapter of the Indian Science Congress Association, Kolkata, today with more than 225 participants.
The programme started with a pledge to make a difference together during this decade (2021 to 2030) to restore our planet and its ecosystem.
Invited speaker, Karan Dhaul, Chairman & Co-Founder Theta Enerlytics Pvt Ltd, gave insight on the modern tools and techniques which are used in the various fields of sciences that are directly relevant to the ecosystem restoration objective. He emphasized that aligning with the government schemes, modern technology can prove to be an excellent tool for resolving various issues at local and regional level with accuracy. He further stated the need of integrating and developing entrepreneurship among young students and scholars in ecosystem restoration using the latest technologies and assured that his company Theta Enerlytics will provide all possible support for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Prof Devesh Walia, Head of the Department of Geology delivered a talk on ecosystem services management and restoration and discussed the ecological niche, and benefits which people obtain from their ecosystems, and consequences of ecosystem change for human wellbeing with direct and indirect drives of change. He enumerated the threats to our ecosystem services, this wealth of distribution and abundance of organisms in time and space on Earth has developed over hundreds of millions of years of evolutionary history and is largely a result of the diversification of a species as it adapts to different ecological niches and ultimately evolves into different species controlled by large-scale geological events.
The webinar ended with vote of thanks from organisers and the declaration of result of the Eco-selfie competition and award of certificate of participation.