Awareness Campaigns
Awareness Programs
Small steps in any field bring huge changes. When the question comes to combat pollution, to protect wildlife or to conserve an ecologically important area it is always essential to involve the local people to integrate those small steps together. We regularly organize awareness campaigns to make the issues clear to the mass to make a stronger extended team. We perform these sessions in regular intervals to make people aware regarding the importance of these species in the ecosystem and hope to succeed by motivating the local people to conserve the diversity.
We have conducted several awareness campaigns covering various aspects like Species Conservation, Waste Management, Health and Hygiene, Use of Plastic etc.
- Campaign regarding Removal of plastics from Santragachhi Jheel in 2007 under the Forest Department.
- An awareness meeting was arranged at Christopher Road Government Sponsored School with the students to discuss health and hygiene issues and also career in Wildlife Studies.
- Organized Awareness programme for plastic free Sundarban at various markets in different ranges of Indian Sundarbans multiple times.
- Organized Snake awareness programme at JFMC areas of different ranges of Indian Sundarbans several times.
CHIRAG
The lamp to enlighten people to avoid and defend themselves from snake bites
In India nearly fifty thousand people die every year from snake bite. So one can only imagine the number of snakes that get killed by us. In both ways these are a huge loss. Importance of snakes in the ecosystem is enormous and so is the value of every human life. To avoid this conflict and for a respectful co-existence Nature Mates is launching a series of Awareness Campaign named on our beloved friend and a very young and talented herpetologist Mr Chirag Jyoti Roy who died from snake bite during rescuing a snake very recently.
In this campaign we will have lectures on:
- Identification of Snakes. Venomous and Non-venomous
- Snake Handling and management techniques during rescue and conflic
- Snake Bite Management: Do’s and Don’ts while you see a snake
And many other important aspects. Though we have started the awareness campaign in our state at first but we will expand it into a national campaign in future.
SUDDHI
for a cleaner beautiful world
Solid Waste Management (SWM) is one among the basic essential services provided by municipal authorities in the country to keep urban centres clean. However, all solid waste is deposited at a dump yard within or outside the city, without segregation and in a wasteful manner.
The journey to good waste management starts from the minds of young children who can learn, adapt towards changes quickly and actively participate to execute their parts to overcome the problems we all face. Howrah Municipal Corporation, therefore wanted to incorporate and involve students to think about the current issues, be reactive, analyse and execute their bests at their levels. It is important that they are made aware and to do so the message of a cleaner environment and a better future should be put forward in a simple and effective way. More importantly development of a sense of belongingness is necessary as well as a sense of ownership of their own actions. A very essential side of awareness is creating the sense of a ‘Good Life and Wellbeing ‘. There was always an immense need to change the mentality towards negotiation with waste, by acknowledging it as an environmental adversity.
To provide awareness to the students the Howrah Municipal Corporation took the initiative of “Green Volunteer Group” under Mission “Green & Clean Howrah”. Nature Mates-Nature Club (NMNC), were assigned to execute the plan of involving the students of 18 schools in this mass movement. We sportingly started executing the work of creating these volunteer groups in the different Schools, envisaged as the pioneer body which will be given the responsibilities to segregate wastes in their households, in their schools, supervise the process of segregation and most importantly making others aware regarding the purpose of the entire process. Different activities were conducted in various schools for triggering and sensitizing the students with various current issues related to this subject and with an intention to change the present pattern of household and other waste disposal. NMNC played the role of a catalyst to select a group of interested students, to form a “Green Volunteer Group” from all schools. We have encouraged them to incorporate their own ideas to address the issue in their house, school and their neighbourhood.
Plastic Cleaning Campaign
Solid Waste Management
BILLI
for all the smaller cats we have
Whenever there is a discussion on cats, Tiger and Lion steals the show. But India is blessed with several other smaller cat species and also with variety of Tody Cats (Civets) as well. Nature Mates since inception had played a crucial role in spreading awareness about this very important group of wildlife, which in many cases lives with the people in rural and even urban settlements. In collaboration with the Forest Department we have rescued several of them, raised them and successfully released them back in the wild. Also we have done awareness campaign for Lesser cats in various part of West Bengal.
TUKTUK
A gentle but steady way to reach the heart of the children of forest fringe villages and paint them Green
In India the need for spreading environmental awareness is huge. Millions of rupees were spent every year for the same. But most of it is used to aware people, who are already aware enough!! The need to invest lies in the immediate vicinity of the forests and protected areas, in the forest fringe villages, where the problem of conflict, scope of miss use and poaching and chance of saving wildlife actually lies.
We from Nature Mates had started a program called “Tuktuk” in the name one of one of our brightest member who died at the age of six from forest malaria. “Tuktuk” a common term for gentle knocking, in Bengali is designed to enlighten the children of the forest fringe villages about the importance of Mother Nature. It’s a program which does not end in one visit or by gifting the students with books or uniforms. It will be a gentle but continious knocking for the students to make them aware, to prepare them to fight for a better environment.
Schools were selected in Darjeeling area, Doars Area, in Purulia and in Sundarbans in the initial stage.
In Sundarbans we have already created “Sabuj Dal” under this scheme.
DANISH
Expression of Creative Minds…
Danish is a Persian word which literally translates to “knowledge”, “science” and “wisdom”. From Nature Mates, from the very beginning we encouraged kids and youth in expressing their mind out in various form of arts. Danish a dear friend of Nature Mates passed away, all of sudden during December 2019. We are in a process of launching our awareness program with kids and youth, remembering Danish. Let “knowledge”, “science” and “wisdom” prevails among youth and Danish lives with us forever.
We have organized several sit and draw events, essay writing events so far, and will keep on doing the same in every possible opportunity.
ARPAN
Our humble offering for Mother Nature…
In India the need for spreading environmental awareness is huge. Millions of rupees were spent every year for the same. But most of it is used to aware people, who are already aware enough!! The need to invest lies in the immediate vicinity of the forests and protected areas, in the forest fringe villages, where the problem of conflict, scope of miss use and poaching and chance of saving wildlife actually lies.
We from Nature Mates had started a program called “Tuktuk” in the name one of one of our brightest member who died at the age of six from forest malaria. “Tuktuk” a common term for gentle knocking, in Bengali is designed to enlighten the children of the forest fringe villages about the importance of Mother Nature. It’s a program which does not end in one visit or by gifting the students with books or uniforms. It will be a gentle but continious knocking for the students to make them aware, to prepare them to fight for a better environment.
Schools were selected in Darjeeling area, Doars Area, in Purulia and in Sundarbans in the initial stage.
In Sundarbans we have already created “Sabuj Dal” under this scheme.
