NAYAGARH: Friends Help Group Nayagarh has undertaken a novel initiative to boost home sparrow conservation in association with Nayagarh Forest Division and Odisha Paryavaran Sanrakshan Abhiyan at Dhusuma village in Odogaon block here Wednesday.
‘Sparrow Conservation Movement’ will highlight the need to conserve sparrows as well as urban biodiversity. The event aims to bring together individuals, national and international groups and organise activities to attract the attention of government agencies.
The scientific community needs to take notice of the need for conservation of the common bird species and urban biodiversity. It is well accepted that the wellbeing of Sparrows is crucial for the sustainably of urban biodiversity.
The common house sparrow is one of the most ubiquitous birds around us and one of the most familiar winged animals. Over time, it has evolved with us.
Sparrows were very common a decade earlier. Over the years, the numbers have declined in both urban and rural areas. This is an indicator of the continued degradation of the environment.
The house sparrow is in a way the ambassador of the common bird species. The expectation is that conservation of the house sparrow and its habitat will help to preserve common biodiversity, which shares the habitat of the house sparrow.
Panchirida Forest Range officer Archana Gomango inaugurated the event of crafting wood boxes and artificial feeding Boxes. Village communities joined enthusiastically to conserve these birds. Initially, 30 boxes were installed in the village.
Owing to conservation efforts, the number of sparrows has risen to 1,000 approximately. These efforts would be go a long way in providing homes to this homeless species.
Interacting with Orissa POST Gomango said, Natives of the region are trying their best to keep these birds alive. However, we need additional funding from the CMO’s office. I sincerely hope the efforts of Friends Group pay off. More than 1,000 sparrows have been detected so far and been provided with homes.”
Sujit Kuamr Pradhan, Dillip Mohapatra and Amulya Kumar from Friends Help Group, Soumya Ranjan Biswal and Dillip Ku Biswal from Odisha Paryavaran Sanrakshan Abhiyan participated in the event. These group members also wrote a letter to the CMO’s office to aid their efforts.
