The Hindu : New Delhi News : Delhi to get its first nature education centre

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 15, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Delhi to get its first nature education centre

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JULY 14. With a view to creating awareness about nature conservation among children and adults, the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has planned to set up a Conservation Education Centre - the first of its kind in the Capital -- at the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary near Tughalakabad in South Delhi in collaboration with the Delhi Government.

Based on a similar model which is already functioning successfully in Mumbai, the centre when complete will have interactive educational displays, nature trails and educational resources for teachers besides serving as a launch pad for teacher training and outreach programmes in Delhi schools, interaction with non-government organisations and decision makers. The Nature Information Centre in Mumbai is located in the renowned Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), popularly known as Borivili National Park, and is a joint effort of the Maharashtra Government's Forest Department, the BNHS and British Gas (India).

A successful example of public-private partnership, the Nature Information Centre in Mumbai launched earlier this April was aimed at raising awareness about the environment and to address the need for nature conservation besides highlighting the importance of the park to Mumbai city. Predictably, the centre has received a good response. The BNHS made a presentation to the Delhi CM on the Mumbai project this past June following which a deal was signed between BNHS and the Delhi Government.

"We have already advertised for the posts of co-ordinators and educators for starting the conservation education centre in Delhi and hope to set it up soon,'' said Prashant Mahajan, the BNHS CEC Manager. "While the centre in Mumbai has been set up with generous support from British Gas, the one in Delhi will come up with the support of the Delhi Government,'' he added.

In fact, the Nature Information Centre and the Conservation Education Centre are two distinct concepts. While the first serves as an information centre, the CEC serves as a centre for conducting various education activities. In Delhi, there will be one comprehensive centre for information dissemination and conservation education.

The agreement was penned by the Delhi Conservator of Forests, A.K. Sinha, and the Director of BNHS, Asad R. Rahmani, in the presence of the Delhi Forest and Wildlife Minister, Raj Kumar Chauhan, last month. According to the agreement, the Delhi Government will provide the land as well as grant-in-aid of Rs 38.42 lakhs through the Forest Department to BNHS. The centre will initially be run by the BNHS for three years. It will impart natural education and provide facilities for research and conservation to the young generation, students, teachers, non-government organisations, policy planners and over 1,500 eco-clubs in various school and colleges, thereby sensitising them towards issues linked to conservation of nature, natural resources, bio-diversity, and rare and endangered flora and fauna in the city.

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