Weaving Communities through Conservation Education - Stepping Stones to Success Stories

Dr. Biswajit De

Founder President of WildRoots-INDIA

Abstract

Abstract: We all know that the younger generations are the future of Planet Earth. The older generations of humans have left them a planet riddled with environmental issues. Climate change and species extinction are some of the major challenges they need to deal with in the coming decades. Thus, the youth of every country in the world must receive the right kind of environmental education that will equip them with the knowledge needed to battle the environmental crises prevalent today. In developed countries, such education is usually uniformly available to all irrespective of their socio-economic status. In developing countries like India, however, the quality of education received by students of rural and urban communities is often extensively different. This difference affects their perception of nature and biodiversity conservation. However, the conservation goals of a country like India cannot be achieved when its rural and urban youth are not in sync. Both sections constitute large proportions of the population. They need to act in unison to protect the environmental health and biodiversity of the country. And that is only possible when they are provided equal education and the opportunity to interact and exchange knowledge and resources during their student life. My presentation based lecture/talk will showcase some strategies that we had designed, observing the need and share the success stories that would strive to create a pathway for future projects.