Grand finale of 64th Wildlife Week held

Grand finale of 64th Wildlife Week held
By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Oct 7 : The grand finale of the 64th Wildlife Week Celebration 2019, organised by the Forest Department, was held at the auditorium of Manipur State Film Development Society, Palace Compound today.
Wild Life Week began from October 1 till today and during the closing event today, awards and prizes for various competition held during the week, were distributed to the winners.
Speaking at the event as the chief guest, Manipur Legislative Assembly Speaker Y Khemchand Singh said that the only way to protect and conserve wildlife is to stop hunting the birds and animal as well as stopping any form of deforestation.
Lamenting on the rampant deforestation in the State, he said that the effect of climate change is now being felt by the people and added that the hard hitting speech by Greta Thunberg during the recent UN convention was applauded by world leaders and is a wake up call for all.
Last year, Imphal river banks gave way and led to floods for four times. This year, the lack of rainfall led to almost 50 percent of the agricultural lands being rendered useless and unproductive. This is due to global warming and climate change. However, positive change needs the effort of all the NGOs, organisations and the people, not just the Government, he added.
On the other hand, CAF&PD Minister Karam Shyam said that humans are the main culprit behind the degrading condition of the planet as the number of people who actually realises their role in conservation of the planet is quite low and stressed on the importance of spreading awareness to the youths and the students.
Conservation and protection of wildlife and the earth requires the concentrated efforts of all the social activists, voluntary organisations, youths etc, he added.
He continued that global warming has now reached Manipur and added that even if the Forest Department sends message and awareness through radio, TV and media etc, the people do not seem to give too much importance to this pressing matter.