Wildroots-India hosted a second cohort of its 'Youth Climate & Conservation Fellowship Programme(YCCFP) between November 23 and 28 at Pakke Tiger Reserve in Seijosa, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Designed by Dr. Biswajit De, Founder President of WildRoots-India, the Programme focused on giving students from less-known but enterprising educational institutions who have strong portfolios of environmental awareness work on a five-day course. The students learned about identifying local & global environmental problems and also about designing, planning and implementing Conservation Action Plans.

 

Wildroots-India involved young early career experts and also veterans as Mentors for the fellowship programme, who designed the educational modules for the Conservation Education & Training Sessions. Mr. Gautam Gupta, expert in Aquatic Ecosystem Design & Conservation organised the River Ecological Study at the Pakke River, Ms. Durba Mitra, who is a student of Law, teamed up with Ms. Kohhua Kaushik, High School Graduate to design modules on Environmental Protection Acts and Climate Policies. Ms. Disha Jain, student of Marine Biology enlightened the participants about Marine Ecosystems and the need for their conservation. The Creative Sessions related to Action Planning for Conservation, Nature Journaling and Biomimicry were organised and mentored by Dr. Biswajit De. Teachers from participating Schools - Ms. Ruchi Rai(Sanskriti the Gurukul, Guwahati, Assam), Ms. Soumali Debnath(Delhi Public School, South Bangalore) Ms. Ipsita Dey and Mr. Samiran Sarker (both from Maria's Public School, Guwahati, Assam) facilitated the Community Interaction & Connection activities, which were the key highlights of the programme.  The Programme also connected these students who are from Schools located in the urban areas, with students at the more rural Govt. Residential School, A-2 Block, Seijosa, Arunachal Pradesh. This encouraged two way learning between the two groups about Biodiversity, Habitat Loss and Plastic Pollution.