SAVE the Ganges River Dolphin
A boat Rally from Brijghat to Narora, Uttar Pradesh
7th -8th May 2005
Short Note
Ganges River Dolphin, one of the four freshwater dolphins in the world, faces extinction WWF-India organized a "Save the River Dolphin Campaign" as part of its Dolphin Conservation Programme.
The Campaign was spread over three months and the concluding event of the event is the "Save the River Dolphin Rally" from 7th to 8th May on the Ganga River. The motorboat rally from Garhmukteshwar (Ghaziabad district) to Narora (Bulandsahar district) was flagged off by Ms. Shweta Nanda (daughter of Amitab Bachan), the chief guest. This boat rally is an effort of WWF-India's Dolphin Conservation Programme to create awareness for conserving this endangered species. These Dolphins, which once ranged throughout the Ganga and Brahmaputra river systems, are now dwindling in numbers. Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica) is one of the only four freshwater Dolphins in the world.
The campaign involved all the stakeholders/partners and all the activities were done in close coordination with the administrative authorities. The campaign received tremendous support and participation from senior environmentalists, scientists, social activists, students of over 100 schools, colleges and universities, army personnel, administrative authorities, local communities and media.
Various awareness programmes like the workshops, talks, painting competitions, slogan competitions, essay writing, poster competition, etc were conducted for school children from the districts of Meerut, Ghaziabad and Bulandsahar (Upper Ganga River). Discussions, meetings and talks were conducted with the local community. The community was involved in planning future strategies for Dolphin conservation; they were motivated into adopting methodologies of farming and fishing which have least impact on the river. Thus, it will help in reducing the human impact on the Ganges and the dolphin habitat. Several resource material which act as tools for increasing general awareness were developed and distributed.
All the above activities have involved the entire administrative machinery and forest department and garnered tremendous support for the campaign. The Divisional Commissioner Mr. Mohinder Singh gave every possible assistance for this campaign. The District Magistrates of Meerut - Mr. Chandra Bhanu: Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr - Mrs. Neena Singh: the Conservator of forest Mr. R. K. Singh and the Divisional Forest Officers of Meerut and Bulandshahar, and the police department all joined hands for this campaign, and participated in the programmes.
Vice Chancellors of three universities, viz- Chaudhary Charan Singh University, GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Gorakhpur University, extended their support for the campaign along with the principals and heads of over 100 schools of the area including Meerut, Gaziabad, Bulandshahr, Anoopshahr, Narora. Teachers and Professors came forward for the cause and actively associated with the campaign.
Celebrities like famous author Ruskin Bond gave his blessings to the campaign and gave his personally autographed books for the winners of the poster competition. Overwhelming response of the children was shown in the award function and seminar on conservation of river dolphins in Dewan Public School of Meerut and JP Vidhya Mandir of Anupshar where Mr .Shehzad Khan, the press secretary of the President of India was the chief guest.
The concluding event of the campaign - Save Dolphin Rally was a motor boat rally on the river Ganga from Brijghat to Narora (82 Km of river stretch in the Upper Ganga River). During the rally several of the pulse awareness talks was held at selected villages on the banks. The media which also participated in the rally interacted with the local community and all the other target groups, understand and propagate the involvement and further needs for the conservation effort. This rally was a pulse event to gamer maximum public attention and future support. There is also a concluding closing ceremony at Narora, where the Station Director of NAPS (Narora Atomic Power Station) was the guest of honor. District Forest officials are also participating and the Chief Conservator of Forest Mr. R.C.Gautam was the Chief Guest for the function.
WWF is calling on governments, local communities, water management agencies, and investors to protect areas of high biodiversity to ensure that they provide clean water for people and nature.