The 4th Odisha River Conference held on March 21-22 at Angul concluded with a resolve to increase river conservation education among all sections of the society to help save our dying and decaying rivers. The conference, organised by the Water Initiatives, Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) along with 53 partners from across the world, aligned with the International Day of Action for Rivers and World Water Day.
More than 150 participants from a cross section of society participated in the two- day intense deliberations that included two general sessions and five technical sessions emphasising the critical role of rivers and connected ecosystems such as forests, floodplains, grasslands and others among others.
The conference was inaugurated by veteran Sarvodaya leader Krishna Mohanty who emphasised in her address on the importance of viewing rivers as living beings – vital entities deserving respect, nurture and care.
“This time around, we emphasised on increased participation of youths as this conference also strategised the next phase of actions to be taken by the Youth4Water campaign that was flagged off during the 3rd Odisha River Conference at Baripada in March, 2019,” said convenor of Water Initiatives, Ranjan Panda, who is also popularly known as the Water Man of Odisha.
General Manager, FES,Swapnasri Sarangi said that the conference had been a collective effort in the true sense. Bishakha Bhanja, a senior expert on water and women issues of the State, said it was a unique conglomeration of people and institutions who were committed to the cause of conserving rivers by looking at those in an interconnected way and not as isolated ecosystems.
Shubha Kulkarni from the Living Rivers Foundation, Pune; Basudev ji from the Bundelkhand Sewa Sansthan, UP, Steve Lockett from the Mahseer Trust, UK, Anurag Gupta from the Water Aid India, Dr VR. Haridas and Dr Mukund Deshmukh from Caritas India, Prof Nidhi Nagabhatla from the United Nations University, Brussels, Dr. Ripin Karla from the Westminster University, UK, Abhiir Bhalla, Youth Adviser to Commonwealth Human Ecology Foundation, UK, Dr Bibhu Nayak from the TISS, Hyderabad, Ardhendu Chatterjee from the DRCSC, Kolkata, Rahul Sachdeva from the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), Namrata Kabra from Kubernein Initiative, Dayadra Mandal from Wetlands International South Asia, Anil Dhir from INTACH, Prof Mrinal Chatterjee, IIMC and many others spoke on different topics.
The 4th Odisha Water Honours were awarded by chief guest Mohanty and other dignitaries to farmer leader Saroj Mohanty (Odisha Jala Joddha Sammana 2024) and, Budanpipali Community Forest Protection Committee from Kandhamal (Ajira Bhagiratha Sammanna 2024).
The 1st Youth4Water ‘Water & Climate Impact Award’ was given to a local youth Urmila Behera.
The Green Picnic Awards – Season 2, given by Youth4Water and DALMA chain of restaurants as part of the Plastic-Free Picnic Challenge were also announced. While MountXPlore from Odisha’s Bargarh received the first prize, the second and third prizes went to Interact Club of Zebar School for Children, Gujarat and Interact Club of the Laidlaw Memorial School and Junior College, Tamil Nadu respectively.
