Bhubaneswar: Former vice-chancellor of Utkal University, Binayak Rath was conferred with the Orissa Environmental Society (OES) ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his contributions to the field of environment protection at the 43rd foundation day and award ceremony of OES here Sunday. Former adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) Virendra Pratap Upadhyay was honoured with the ‘Environment Excellence Award’ and former head of Zoology, Utkal University Ajay Kumar Patra received the ‘Environment and Science Popularisation Award’.
The ‘Nature Conservation Award’ was presented to Bivash Pandav of the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. Sharat Kumar Palita, VP Upadhyay, Navin Kumar Dhal and Pushpanjali Parida were honoured with the title of ‘OES Fellows’. Former professor of IIT Bombay Krishna Chandra Sahu, professor Pushpanjali Parida, Parshuram Panda and Tapas Ranjan Mallick were conferred the status of ‘Patrons of OES’. Presided over by the president of OES Sundara Narayana Patro, the programme was attended by former IAS officer and OPSC chairman, Vivekananda Patnaik as the chief guest and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Devidutta Biswal as the keynote speaker. Patnaik presented a landscape of the current global environment, explaining how its quality standards are degrading, stressing the importance of sustainable maintenance. At the event, Biswal delivered the ‘Prasanna Kumar Dash Memorial Lecture’, named after the OES founding president. He spoke broadly about the state’s forest and wildlife resources.
Speaking on the occasion, experts stated that as long as the nature and environment are protected and the flow of goods and services derived from them is uninterrupted, it will be possible for mankind and the entire living world to lead a prosperous life. “We need to realise that environmental protection is a very sensitive issue. If natural ecosystems are disturbed by human activities and their functioning is affected, the flow of goods and services will be disrupted,” they opined. This imbalance will expose the species to various predicaments, which will lead to their decline and ultimate extinction.
In this context, the government, various institutions and the public must exhibit a commitment to maintaining the quality of the environment through their joint efforts, the experts added. Senior life members of OES Ekadashi Nandy, Bishwanath Puhan, Prakash Chandra Mishra, Swapna Behera and Ram Narayan Gupta were also felicitated on the occasion.
