River conference kicks off

BARIPADA: In order to promote conservation of rivers and combat climate change, the 3rd Odisha River Conference was inaugurated here on Sunday. The two-day event will witness discussion on role of river, forest and local indigenous communities in combating climate change. Speaking on the occasion, B V Subba Rao of Centre for Resource Education and Management, Hyderabad, said, “The land-water-forest-human relationship is age-old. But now these are seen as commodities. The policy makers are focusing on exploring and exploiting the natural resources.”

Expressing concern over the issue, he said, “Rivers are not safe in the country. We need to carry out a sustainable water audit of the entire river system for its protection.”Bishakha Bhanja of Water Aid and noted conservationist Prof Ashok Panigrahi stressed on the role of communities to protect rivers from exploitation.

Among others, Ranjan Panda of Water Initiatives, Odisha, Deepak Pani of Gram Swaraj, Sneha Mishra of Aaina, Ashok Biswal of Nature Conservancy, Bhopal and Dr Hemant Kumar Sahoo of Vasundhara also spoke.The conference is being organised by Water Initiatives, Gram Swaraj and Vasundhara along with 35 partner organisations.