International Day of Forests-2021 celebrated

RSC Dehradun organized popular science lecture through online mode today on International Day of Forests-2021.The UN General Assembly proclaimed 21 March as the International Day of Forests in November 28, 2012. This commemorative day celebrates and raises awareness of the importance of all types of forests.The theme for 2021 is “Forest restoration: a path to recovery and well-being”.Dr Shalini Dhyani, Senior Scientist, CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur delivered popular science lecture, “Climate sensitive restoration planning in Himalayas to ensure recovery and human well-being”. Her deliberation focused on climate sensitive restoration planning to address emerging risks for forest ecosystems in the Himalayas. She beautifully explained importance of forest restoration, agro forestry, impact of climate change,strategy of village level conservation, riparian buffer, capacity building of stakeholders, and importance of CSR, post-restoration monitoring. She described data of her field work in Uttarakhand Himalayas related to habitat degradation, conservation and awareness. She highlighted some drivers of biodiversity loss such as developmental activities leading to fragmented habitat; poor understanding of species and mono culture; Flawed conservation efforts lacking people centric planning; lack of coordination, etc. Earlier, Dr Rajendra Dobhal, Director General, UCOST in his address shed light on status of forest, habitat degradation, thrust areas of research and policy implications.Later, Dr Shalini answered the queries of participants related to Green Bonus; Climate Sensitive Agriculture, its implementation and policy matters; Forecasting models in Habitat studies; Valuation of Ecosystem Services; Benefit Transfer; Environmental Impact Assessment; and Career in Biodiversity Conservation and agroforestry. Dr Kailash N. Bhardwaj, In-charge RSC coordinated the program and Dr Aparna Sharma, Senior Scientific Officer delivered the vote of thanks to invitees and participants. The lecture was attended and deeply appreciated by the audience of more than 50 academicians, scientists and research scholars.