Never heard of such a thing! But, when it comes to Prakruthi Eco Care group and its approach to outward bound experiential learning, its mentor Dipankar Ghose can go to any extent to make it happen and keep all the special dignitaries and delegates spellbound till dusk at the venue.
Partnering with Chennai Snake Park on ACCEPT (Advanced Centre on Conservation Education, Planning and Training), and led by former forest officer, Dr. S. Paulraj, the Snake Park got the Tamilnadu Forest Department to initiate a path breaking workshop on ‘Biodiversity Conservation Through Sustainable Ecotourism’, on June 8. The workshop was hosted by V.G.P.Ravidas, MD of VGP Group, at its aquarium, the Marine Kingdom.
The workshop, which was the 1st state-level workshop of such a kind, was conducted on World Oceans Day. The event was more of a south zonal meet, with delegates attending from as far as Visakhapatnam and Calicut. Even IITTM (Indian Institute of Travel & Tourism Management), Gwalior, the nodal agency for Sustainable Tourism of the Ministry of Tourism was represented by a 4-member team. S.Mohapatra, IFS, Head of Tamilnadu Forest Dept, was the chief guest of the event and the guest of honour included S.R.Reddy, Chief Wildlife Warden, Dr.N.Krishnakumar, Retd. Head of Forest Force, and Dr.Giri Rengaswamy, Dean of Aarupadai Veedu Institute of Technology.
The objective of the program was to link with the Tourism stakeholders, and together look into the prism of tourism from the forestry conservation angle and bridge the opposite poles of commerce with conservation.
Presiding over the function, Ravidas took the 125 delegates on a curated tour of the aquarium, highlighting its subtle contribution in awareness generation and public participation in biodiversity conservation. A publication on sustainable eco-tourism, authored by Dr. Paulraj was brought out by the Forest Department and released on the occasion.
Afternoon workshop session was chaired by Dr.N.Krishnakumar and co-chaired by Dr.N.Ramjee on topics like ‘Influence of education and interpretation in sustainable ecotourism’, ‘Biodiversity conservation through sustainable ecotourism’ and ‘Influence of NGOs on sustainable ecotourism’. What surprised most was the active participation of the Head of Forest Force and Chief Wildlife Warden with the conservationists, academicians and tourism professionals until the end. The event concluded at dusk on the beach with a profound exercise on the health of the ocean, its currents and safety in the water.
Notable amongst those who facilitated the program were the former member secretary of TN Planning Commission Dr.Sugato Dutt, Dr.M.Kirupasankar of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, Dr.T.D.Babu of SPARK, Diver Aravind of Temple Adventures, Showkath Jamal of Bay of Life, K.S.Gopinath of India Tourism, Rtns. Raja and Sona Prakash, and scientists led by Dr.S.Arivazhahan of Chennai Snake Park.
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