International Day of Mangrove Conservation, 2018
Every year
since 2015, 26th July is commemorated world over as the International Day for the Conservation of Mangrove
Ecosystems, with the aim of promoting Sustainable Development. To mark the day, United Way Mumbai organized an inter-school and inter-collegiate
competition on
the theme of "Mangroves: The Shorekeepers of Mumbai", jointly with
iNaturewatch Foundation and Vanashakti and with
support from a corporate partner and the Mangrove and Marine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation of
Maharashtra.
Contests were organized for school and college students from Mumbai and Navi Mumbai in following categories:
- Photography: Contestants used their mobile/camera to photograph mangroves/wetlands near their school or residence and emailed their entries to UWM, with authorisation from their school or college. UWM received 17 entries, which were judged by butterfly expert and naturalist, Mr. Isaac Kehimkar and commercial artist, Mr. Yogesh Chavan, commercial artist.
- Slogan
or Poetry Writing: The theme of this contest was "Mangrove Ecosystem". 91
entries were received and were judged by Mr. Prashant Mahajan, (Director & Learning Catalyst at Somaiya Institute) and
Mr. Virat Singh, (Special
Correspondent at DNA, Amateur Photographer & Co-founder Fotothon).
- Poster Making: A live Poster making contest was organized for school
students, in which 64 students participated. Freelance artists, Ms. Deepika Tahiliani and Mr. Mahesh Baria and the ex-social welfare head, CIDCO, Ms.Reema Dixit,were the judges.
Prizes were distributed to the winners at the Coastal and Marine
Biodiversity Centre in Airoli. Guests inlcuded
Hon’ble. Sri. Sandeep Naik, MLA and Mr. N. Vasudevan, IFS, Executive
Director, Mangrove Foundation and Addnl. Principle Chief Conservator of
Forests. Mr. Guada, ACF, Mangrove Cell, Ms. Jayanti
Shukla, CEO, United Way Mumbai, Mr. Stalin Dayanand, Director, Vanashakti and Dr. V. Shubhalaxmi, Founder & Managing Trustee, INaturewatch
Foundation felicitated the prize winners.
