A one day Workshop on ‘Conservation of Biodiversity of Sundarban’ was held on August 17, 2016 for the 140 Gram Panchayats from all 13 blocks of South 24 Paraganas district located in Indian Sundarbans. The programme was organized by Nature Environment & Wildlife Society (NEWS) in collaboration with District Panchayat & Rural Development, South 24 Parganas and West Bengal Biodiversity Board. This workshop intended to orient the Gram Panchayat representatives in Sundarbans towards conservation of Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem and the roles of Panchayats.
The workshop was participated by Padmashree Tushar Kanjilal, Mr. Dilip Pal, Special Secretary, Panchayat & Rural Development (P & RD), Sri Sandipan Mukherjee, Member Secretary, West Bengal Biodiversity Board (WBBB), Sri Nilanjan Mallick, Chief Conservator of Forest & Field Director, Sundarban Tiger Reserve, other senior officials from P & RD, WBBB, West Bengal Fisheries Department, BDO, SDO, SDPO, Sabhapati from 13 blocks in Sundarbans of South 24 Paraganas and the Panchayat Pradhans/Upa Pradhans and senior members of the Gram Panchayats from 140 GPs of Sundarbans (South 24 Paraganas).
Discussions were held on the overview of local livelihood development in Sundarbans, importance of mangrove ecosystem and biodiversity in protecting the lives and livelihoods of Sundarbans and role of Panchayats in implementation of Biodiversity Management Committee. The workshop ended with a much needed panel discussion where a number of questions on the challenges faced in this context were raised by the Panchayats and answered by respective departments and resource persons present.