International Forestry Student’s Association Local Council Forest Research Institute, Dehradun celebrated Earth Day 2018
International Forestry Student’s Association (IFSA) is a globally active, non-governmental, non-religious, non-profit association of forestry students seeking exchange of experiences. It was founded in 1973 and headquartered at Freiburg, Germany. IFSA has a large team of elected volunteers working to represent the youth’s voice in forestry issues. IFSA is actively involved in many forest-related networks, organizations, and international policy processes. It connects forestry students from all over the world to their peers, forest related organizations and policy platforms, aiming to enrich its members’ education through networking and inter-cultural exchange.
IFSA LC FRI stands for International Forestry Student’s Association Local Council Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. It is a local unit of IFSA comprising the students of the prestigious Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, which is pioneer in forestry research and education in India. IFSA LC FRI is the 2nd of its kind in India and has been operational since December 2017. We seek to be the face of forestry and environment enthusiasts in the country on various international platforms for promoting better networking among students and organizations and also to inculcate and promote a sense of belonging for forests and developing a consciousness for safeguarding our environment.
As part of the Earth Day celebration, IFSA LC FRI conducted a successful cleanliness drive in the FRI campus on 21st April 2018. An environmental quiz competition in the Officer’s Club of FRI on 22nd April 2018 was also organized in which students from various colleges and universities of Dehradun participated. A huge crowd was garnered by the powerful street play carrying the message of plastic menace, performed at the FRI Main Building. In sync with this year’s theme “End Plastic Pollution”, stalls were set up in different corners of FRI in which beautiful air-purifying indoor plants were sold in decorative bottles of glass, metal and plastic hand-painted by the members of IFSA LC FRI to encourage the idea of 3R’s i.e., Reduce, Reuse and Recycle as well as raise awareness amongst the public about the ill effects of plastics, harmful radiations from mobile phones, computer and other electrical appliances and how these plants help absorb such radiations, hence reducing indoor pollution. Cotton bags were also sold in the stall’s to discourage use of plastic bags. The stall greatly served as a fundraiser for the LC’s cause. IFSA LC FRI used clay cups and leaf plates for serving refreshments thereby conveying a message to the participants from other colleges that such eco-friendly plates and cups serve a long way in reducing plastic pollution.
All in all, it was a successful event carried out by the members of IFSA LC FRI, with ample support from other students, research scholars and faculty members of Forest Research Institute (Deemed to be) University, Dehradun. This was the second event hosted by IFSA LC FRI after International Day of Forests on 21st March, 2018. IFSA LC FRI would like to continue celebrating such events of environmental importance in times to come, in better ways. We also expect larger participation from other colleges of Dehradun for greater awareness about the global issues related to environment. Therefore, we would like to organize more such events in FRI, which would include competitions like Drawing, Debate, Essay writing, Slogan writing, etc. alongside environmental quiz in order to popularize environmentally important issues. For greater mass awareness we desire to perform street-plays in many other public places of Dehradun. We would like to expand our merchandise and include some other useful eco-friendly alternatives along with cotton bags and air purifying indoor plants in near future which will greatly serve as a fundraiser for our cause. We would like to continue setting up stalls in the events hosted by FRI and also outside FRI if and when time permits. IFSA LC FRI would like to carry out mass cleanliness drive outside the FRI premises in the days to come.The LC also encourages the segregation of waste at home and so would conduct waste management workshops for students of schools and colleges. IFSA LC FRI envisions to become a pioneering force for discouraging roadside hawkers from using plastic spoons, cups and plates by providing a connection between local disposable mud cup maker, disposable bamboo/wooden spoon and disposable leaf plate retailers. This is just the beginning. We will strive for a better, cleaner, greener future. Also, we are very grateful for the support received from the authorities and we hope for the same in our future endeavors.
