Voice of Environment (VoE), a youth environmental organization based in Guwahati, Assam, has conducted a workshop entitled “What’s in my Backyard? Documenting biodiversity around us’’ The workshop is part of its ongoing initiative on environmental education and awareness mission among the students, youths and community.
Dr Mitrajit Deb is a zoologist and researcher from Northeast India. Presently he is working as an Assistant Professor and Coordinator in the Zoology department at The Assam Royal Global University as a guest speaker, Dr Anu Sharma, Lecturer Higher Education Department, Jammu University, as moderator and other VoE team members.
The workshop session started with opening remarks by Dr Anu Sharma, introducing the panel members, speaker, participants, and other VoE members. Then the session was continued and taken over by the Guest speaker, Dr Mitrajit Deb.
He has highlighted the importance of conducting backyard biodiversity audits which can lead to a greater understanding of biodiversity around us. Backyard biodiversity studies are cost-effective and easy ways to document urban biodiversity. Today, modern citizen science platforms and AI tools have revolutionized species identification, increasing greater accessibility of scientific information among common people. Backyard biodiversity studies can help in the identification of native species and can make citizens aware of their green spaces, thereby leading to greater participation in saving our planet earth. Dr Deb introduced the participants to various tools and techniques to conduct these audits.
Following the session, participants from various states and streams provided their opinions on Subhayan Biswas, from Zoology Determent Assam Royal Global University (RGU), Guwahati, found the session helpful and is interested in interacting with like-minded people on different biodiversity portals. Nabarup Ganguly, from Tripura University, observed the session as excellent for the diversified information regarding biodiversity Raktaprabal Kashyap, from the Zoology department, RGU, understood the tools through which one can recognize the local biodiversity. Dipanwita Chakraborty, from the Zoology department RGU, found it to be a vital session where she learned how to identify the biodiversity of species through artificial intelligence apps. Rohan Dey, a student from RGU, came to know about identifying biodiversity species from portals. Soni Parveen, from RGU, found the session to motivate and learn how to find a different kind of species. Anusuya Das, a class 12th from Paragon Senior Secondary School, Badarpur Assam, perceives the session fruitful. She also came to know about various tools used for biodiversity identification. Nabarun Kr Sarkar, B Sc from RGU, understood the conservation of different species and learned how to identify them with the tools. Shreyasi Banerjee, a student from RGU, gained some new ways to determine biodiversity by many means like AI . Dr Rajeshwari Roy, Department of Environmental Studies from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, found the session helpful for kids and young stars as they can embody nature around them. She also finds that a detailed description of the process of registering species in a common platform is the only way to conserve biological diversity is holistic. Jyotisikha Medhi, from RGU, found the session informative. Soma Adhikary, Department of Environmental Studies from Rabindra Bharati University, has uncovered much helpful information from this session. Anjan Chetry, from RGU, thanks the speaker for such an enlightening session. Dikshita Devi, from RGU, fined the session beneficial. Sneha Dutta Chowdhury, a student of Environmental Science from RGU, discovered the session was necessary. She also learned about various web resources, like AI, that are accessible to identify species and provide a wide range of information about different species, which is crucial for recognizing, comprehending, and progressively safeguarding the biodiversity around us.
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