World Wetlands Day, 2021 was observed by Institution of Public Health Engineers, India
on 2nd February, 2021. A virtual (maiden event) group discussion
through Google meet was arranged by the Institution on the theme of the year,
‘Wetlands and Water’.
The event was held for about an hour
from 5 pm onwards on the day; and started with an opening remarks of Sri K. A.
Roy. Council Member cum designated organizer of the event, followed by welcome
address by Sri B. K. Sengupta, Secretary General, IPHE, India.
There were 4(four) expert speakers on
the occasion; namely i) Sri V. K. Nadkar, Fellow Member, IPHE from Pune; ii)
Sri Yogesh Sharma, Fellow Member, IPHE from New Delhi; iii) Sri AlokSuman,
Fellow Member, IPHE from New Delhi and iv) Prof. Dr. ArunabhaMajumder, Vice
President, IPHE from Kolkata.
The Deliberations by the expert
speakers on the theme of the day, especially with reference to the Ramsar
Convention, 1971 on wetlands, were followed by lively group discussion by the
participants on the occasion. The expert speakers as well as the participants
raised their concerns about fast declining ground water resources, diminishing
wetlands area and species, need for regular awareness campaign to save
wetlands, river pollution control learning lesson from National Ganga River Basin
programme, and role of IPHE in maintaining ecological balance of the wetlands
and water.
