Aiming to conserve the house sparrows and other neighbourhood birds, the Nature Environment and Wildlife Society (NEWS) here launched a public awareness campaign involving students and different village-level stakeholders on the occasion of the World Sparrow Day on March 20. A meeting was held at the Jarada High School besides a seminar, a rally and a host of competitions including essay, painting, elocution and open quiz among school students were also organised.
"Every creature has an important role to play in the web of life. House sparrow is a major indicator of the health of our environment. The sparrow was once a very common bird all over the country, whether it was a bustling urban area or a small village. The decline of house sparrows due to pollution is an indicator of the degradation of our environment," said Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) of Satkosia Wildlife Division Akshaya Kumar Ray.
NEWS secretary and Angul Honorary Wildlife Warden Prasanna Kumar Behera highlighted the need for conservation of house sparrow and appealed to the students and other participants for putting their efforts in conservation of sparrows as well as other birds.
He informed that as part of the campaign, a few volunteers would be trained in raising general awareness, preparation of nests for sparrows and habitat conservation like providing water and food regularly to the birds. “The main reasons for the decline in the population of house sparrows include unavailability of insects, pollution by devices like mobile towers, phones, absence of appropriate food and increased use of pesticides in the agricultural field,” he revealed. School Headmaster Binod Sahoo presided over the meeting. The winning students in different competitions were awarded with certificates.