CEE Ahmedabad participated in the Campus Bird Count event, which attempted at obtaining a ‘snapshot’ of the birds’ distribution across the globe. Organized by Bird Count India - a consortium of conservation organizations - the Campus Bird Count event is part of the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), which is a worldwide bird counting exercise that takes place for four days in February, each year.

Initiated in 2015, the event witnessed participation from 84 campuses across 17 states, in the first year. CEE was the only campus to participate from Gujarat then. In 2016, of the 18 campuses that participated from Gujarat, 9 campuses (including CEE and Sundarvan) were the ones for which CEE and Sundarvan had rallied for. The campuses were guided on how to conduct the bird count and upload the data, which is collated through the global bird listing tool - 'e-bird'.

The staff of these organizations also conducted the bird counting sessions at ISRO and Vikramnagar Colony. Migratory species like the Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, Rosy Starling, and Greenish Warbler were spotted.

CEE Himalaya, with support from JSW Foundation and in association with Mountain Partnership of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and RCE Srinagar (Regional Centre for Expertise of the United Nations University), celebrated National Science Day on February 27, 2016.

An exhibition was organised for the people of Kuroli village in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, wherein varied displays were interpreted and lectures were given by subject experts. Participants also discussed various issues centered around the science of climate change, its impacts on the local food, water and health security, climate change-induced disasters and the coping mechanisms, disaster risk reduction and the need for a disaster resilient community, and issues related to sustainable mountain development. The exhibition displayed information on the basic concepts of science as well as the content inside the longest and the largest multimedia mobile exhibition, the Science Express Climate Action Special (SECAS).

The programme was inaugurated by the local Block Pramukh, in the presence of the Gram Pradhan, 'panchayat' representatives and dignitaries of the village. People were explained about the sustainable actions that could be taken at the individual and community levels. They were also encouraged to take pledge towards adopting actions that would lower the carbon emissions and lead to sustainable living. More than 100 people attended the programme. The work done by CEE and JSW received appreciation.

Under the Swachh Vidyalaya-Swasth Vidyalaya initiative, the CEE Vaishali team organized 8 sensitization and 15 orientation meetings, focused at introducing various elements of the project to the school.

The initiative focuses on introducing child-friendly school and systems. It is supported by UNICEF and Bihar Education Project Council. A pilot of 100 schools in Vaishali district has been taken up by CEE, while scale up in other districts would be done by the Bihar Education Project Council, after taking inputs from CEE.

After completing the baseline survey, the CEE team facilitated orientation meetings in pilot schools, whereby the members were briefed about their roles and responsibilities for making a school and its system child-friendly. These meetings were attended by the members of SMC, Child Cabinet and Meena Munch, along with teachers.

CEE North was invited as a panellist to discuss the role of education in community mobilization for wetlands management, at the workshop on ‘New initiatives in Wetland Management of Katerniaghat Wild Life Sanctuary’, organized jointly by WWF-India and the Katerniaghat Wildlife Division, Bahraich.

Mr. Vidya Bhooshan Singh from the CEE North team made a presentation on how education as a driver of change, helps in mobilizing the community for the conservation and management of rivers and wetlands. The workshop was attended by more than 150 participants, including community members, officials, and other key stakeholders. Students from the Dolphin school cluster of Katerniaghat also participated in the competitions, organized as part of the Wetlands Day programme.

As part of the National Science Day celebrations, a ‘Bal Mela’ was organised under the ‘Swapnilshala’ project, at the Government UPS Ghatal, in Rajasthan.

The ‘Bal Mela’ had various sections, including the ones on science, games, and art-crafts. Students were oriented in the topics of their choice, and were assigned stalls at the exhibition. They also had to prepare charts to display at the stall.

Nearly 450 children participated, and were engaged in activities like ‘balancing the pencil’, ‘natural pH indicator’, ‘Newton’s car’, ‘coloured disc’, thread painting, thumb painting, and snakes and ladders linked to sanitation.

The Ganges River Dolphin - Conservation Education Programme is being implemented by CEE North in the Ganga basin, covering 20 locations in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Dolphin school clusters have been formed in these locations, and the dolphin clubs in these schools take up activities at the school and community levels. In the second year of activities, teachers are invited for refresher meets wherein they share their experiences and plan for the upcoming year's activities.

Two refresher meets for teachers from the Dolphin school clusters were organized in East Champaran and Muzaffarpur districts of Bihar, by CEE and partner NGOs. Over 70 dolphin school teachers participated in these meetings which were organized in association with Gram Pragati. Teachers were guided on how to report activities and initiatives taken by dolphin schools. A set of educational material was also shared. In each meet, the lead school, as the dolphin education resource centre, shared their activities in the cluster.

Nearly 87 students and 4 teachers participated in a programme organized at the Kasturba Gandhi Awasiya Balika Vidyalaya in Bhadpura, Bareilly, by the CEE North team.

Sundarvan conducted the “Know your trees – Interactive tree-watch”, wherein Dr Santosh Yadav spoke about the various types of trees in Sundarvan, their origin and medicinal uses, as well as their ecological value. Students from the Mahatma Gandhi International School joined in a tree walk at Sundarvan. The walk, with an activity of the ‘Handprint tree’, was specially designed to facilitate the outdoor learning model.

As part of the World Wetlands Day 2016 celebration, CEE Himalaya organized various activities under the theme ‘Wetlands for Our Future: Sustainable Livelihoods’, for the community of Kuroli in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand.

More than 70 people took part in the activities which focused at sensitizing the participants on the importance of the wetlands, and thereby empower them to take appropriate actions locally. The participants, including ‘panchayat’ representatives, school children, and youth, learned about the usefulness of wetlands for environmental protection and income generation. They were also briefed of the locally adopted measures to conserve them. They also participated in various activities including painting, slogan writing, speeches, debates and discussions.

Saplings of local species like Baans (Bamboo), Devdar, Malt and Oak were planted by the principal and students of the Government Primary School, Kuroli. The community took a pledge to conserve the wetlands in their region.

‘Prakriti’ Bus was displayed at the International Conference on Wetlands and ‘Sarus’ Crane, organized by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department at Saifai, Etawah. CEE was invited to facilitate children education and awareness activities to make them aware about the need for the conservation of wetlands and Uttar Pradesh’s State bird ‘Sarus’ Crane. <

Over 200 students and 250 visitors benefitted from the mobile exhibition. Students also participated in various competitions including the quiz, the skit, and the painting competition. The winners were awarded with prizes and certificates by Shri Rupak Day, Principal Chief Conservation of Forest -Wildlife, UP Forest Department.

The Prakriti bus has been developed by CEE, with support from the UP State Biodiversity Board and University of Lucknow. During its stay at Saifai, the bus covered more than 20 schools, benefitting nearly 14231 visitors and making them aware about the biodiversity and its importance.

CEE is the ENVIS centre on Environmental Education (EE). As an ENVIS centre, CEE caters to the information needs of environmental educators. Write to the CEE ENVIS Centre at [email protected]