Planting Trees On World Elephant Day

World Elephant Day is observed every year on the 12th of August (when World Youth Day is also celebrated).

A couple of weeks ago, we welcomed Mr. Bijaya Kumar Dash to our global community. He is passionate about elephants and nature conservation so he reached out to us to share how he spent World Elephant Day.

Mr. Dash is the director of the not-for-profit, Collective Initiation for Social Solidarity (CISS). He participated in an awareness-raising event organized by forest staff about elephant and forest conservation. Mr. Dash joined as the Chief Resource Person, seeing he has experience in the matter.

The program happened on the local school’s premises and all teachers and students took part. During this event, there was a moment to learn more about elephants and the threats they face, as well as about conservation efforts in that area.

After the workshop, a tree-planting activity took place, where 10 saplings were planted. The school’s secretary, Sir G. B. Panda planted a Neem Tree as the inaugural tree.

Mr. Dash was keen on acknowledging all participants, with an honorable mention to all those who made the event possible:

“Forester Sri Ramesh Chandra Panigrahi coordinated the event. Mr. Pramod Kumar Nanda, a retired senior bank officer and co-founder of the School joined as Chief Guest. Mr. Gagan Bihari Panda, a retired Head Master and Secretary of the School’s management committee joined as Chief Speaker. Mr. Gobimd Chandra Nayak, the founder and member of the school, joined as Guest of Honour.”

We will hear from Mr. Dash again soon, as he suggested to the organizing committee that another tree-planting event be organized in celebration of India’s Independence Day, on August 15.