DATE & Time: 2018-06-18
World Environment Day Celebrated with Biodiversity Conservation Conference
June 18, 2018
By: Hemanta Sharan Bagale
On the occasion of World Environmental Day, National Federation of Youth NGO Nepal, (NFYN) in association with Aawaj International, organized a day-long provincial conference on “Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development Goals” at Hotel Pokhara Grande, Pardi, Pokhara on June 5, 2018.
This year World Environment Day was celebrated with a major theme titled “Beat Plastic Pollution”. This conference was supported by WWF, CARE, NTNC and FFCOFUN, with SDG Studio as the official partner. Altogether, there were 85 participants in the program, including the provincial minister, political leaders, representatives of municipalities, key people from various youth-led organizations, as well as youth participants from different academic backgrounds in Province 4.
The program was chaired by Mr. Kamal Subedi, Central President of National Federation of Youth NGO Nepal (NFYN) . The program began formally with the chief guest Hon’ble Bikash Lamsal, Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment of Province 4 watering the plants.
Shashi Sharma Majgainya, Central Secretary of National Federation of Youth NGO Nepal hosted the program.
Hon’ble Minister Bikash Lamsal shared some of the causes of global warming, and its mitigating measures. He focused on the conflict between human beings and animals, as well as livelihood. He shared the “brain drain” problem of youth, and development of an entrepreneurial mindset . He discussed the various opportunities for youth connecting with each 17 Sustainable Development Goals on the local level, such as in the municipalities and provinces. He also talked about the role of the local government in the planning, monitoring, evaluating and budgeting. He committed to work together with NFYN and Aawaj International in environmental conservation and its protection in the upcoming days.
Mr. Man Bahadur G.C., Mayor of Pokhara Metropolitan City also shared about combating plastic banding issues for sustainable environmental protection and conservation. Mr. Deepak Karki, General Secretary of National Federation of Youth NGO Nepal (NFYN), gave a warm welcome speech to the participants of the Province 4 conference.
Similarly, Dr. Prabhu Budathoki, former member of NPC,spoken about the “5Cs” for youth. He also spoke about biodiversity and conflict, disturbances in development, ecosystem diversity, and the production and consumption relationship in plastic products.
Later, Hon’ble Mina Gurung spoke about the total population of youth in Nepal (40.3%), and related it to the availability of youth coverage, budgeting, and youth centered programs. Dr. Narayan Prasad Regmi, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance presented on the subject “Localization and Implementation of SDGs in Local Governments”.
In the second session, Dr. Buddhi Sagar Poudel presented on the subject “Bio-diversity Conservation, Eco-enterprises and Youth.”
At the end of the program, participants were divided into 3 sections for group discussion. One of the groups presented a paper on their role in ‘Biodiversity Conservation’, while another group presented on one called ‘My SDGs Commitment.’ The next group worked on a project titled ‘Government Concerned Subject.’ The conference was successful due to the great influence of all the policy makers, innovators, and youth who participated in the group work.
The chairperson of this conference Mr. Kamal Subedi said that the conference was a place to unite people from diverse professions, who live in the same province. He also said that this provincial level conference became a common platform to act on Sustainable Development Goals, with the optimum utilization of available local resources.
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