The six day’s Film Festival on Wetlands
organized by Hasiru Hejje and Regional Museum of Natural History to mark the
World Wetland Day-2015 was inaugurated by renowned artist and Social activist
Badal Nanjunda Swamy at the Auditorium of the Regional Museum of Natural
History.
In a gathering of
a hundred college students, most of them from the JSS Law college Mrs. Mujeba
Khanum, Educational staff of the Museum welcomed the gathering and Mr. Manu
K gave an introduction to the
significance of the day . This day in 1972, on the shores of Caspian Sea at a
fishing village called Ramsar, over 50 heads of Nations met to discuss the
plight of Wetlands and their inhabitants, he said. Ever since, there has been a
constant increase in the membership of Nations more and more wetland sites are
identified for conservation. The call of the year is Join Us in conservation of
Wetlands. He mentioned the legacy of
lake conservation movement in Mysore and how in spite of its success the pressure
on them remains same. While there are external threats of encroachment upon
many wetlands the internal mis-management and land use change in the disguise
of development are also a serious threat to the wetland species.
Inaugurating the
festival Mr. Badal expressed happiness about the enthusiasm of the participants
and explained to them how the lure of development mutes common man against the
loss of parks and lakes. He made special mention to Kukkarahalli his home
village where the custodians are the University of Mysore. In spite of all the
professor and technical know how in them, no body raises their voice against an
atrocity against Nature. While the management heads for an all out effort to
spin money through human centric projects, the academicians turn a blind eye…
what role would they be to their students he asked.
Mrs. Mujeba
Khanum who thanked the guests and the gathering also mentioned special thanks
to the Press for their coverage which led to the booking of all the shows even
before the inaugural.
