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Bird watching camp concludes

Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL: A weeklong Bird Watching Camp organised jointly by RCVPN Academy of Administration and the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department ended here on Saturday.

The concluding function coincided with World Migratory Bird Day-2007 celebrated globally over the weekend of May 12-13. The World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) campaign is being promoted worldwide by the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/AEWA) and the Convention on Migratory Species (UNEP/CMS). This year, the central theme of WMBD is "Migratory birds in a changing climate".

The first bird watching camp, which is part of a series of three camps being organised by the State Academy of Administration and Forest Department, was joined by a cross-section of people from the bureaucracy, private enterprise teaching fraternity along with college and school going children.

It was conducted by R. Sreenivasa Murthy, Conservator of Forests and Senior Faculty, RCVPN Academy of Administration. Van Vihar National Park Director J.S. Chauhan and Mohammed Khalique of Bhopal Birds were prominent among the resource persons.

The Vice-Chairman of the Narmada Valley Development Authority, Uday Verma, who also joined this camp, said on the concluding day that such camps show up the importance of birds as barometers of our environment.

The curtain came down on the camp with the screening of the film "Water Birds of Bhopal" shot, directed and produced by the Principal Correspondent of The Hindu in Bhopal, Lalit Shastri, and his wife, Rajshri Shastri. The documentary showcases the State capital's picturesque Upper Lake and the Van Vihar National Park as an excellent habitat for all kinds of birds.

To commemorate WMBD-2007, CREW (Crusade for Revival of Environment and Wildlife), an NGO devoted to the cause of protection of environment, bio-diversity, wildlife, forest cover, endangered species and wetlands has used the services of volunteers to motivate rural children in some villages near Bhopal to promote public awareness about the importance of birds.

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Bird watching camp concludes

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