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ECSF Director Dr. Sourav Paul delivered an invited lecture at Indian Ocean Regional Decade Conference (IO-CON), 2024 at INCOIS, Hyderabad. He emphasized the need of building a cyclone program for Indian estuaries in the UN Ocean Decade. He also demonstrated capacity development initiatives taken from the ECSF in the last two years that touched many stakeholders of the UN Ocean Decade. His lecture slotted in ‘Challenge 10 on Change Humanity’s Relationship with the Ocean’ had engaged fruitful discussions among academicians, government, policymakers, private NGOs who were representing their countries across the World.

Debarati, was one of the panelists of UN Ocean Decade challenge no 9 i.e. Skills, Knowledge and Technology for All, at the prestigious Indian Ocean Regional Decade conference! This esteemed event brought together experts and stakeholders and chaired by Dr. Justin Ahanhanzo from IoC UNESCO.Debarati took the stage to share the voices of ECOPs, a crucial perspective often overlooked in global discussions. She highlighted the concerns, ideas, and aspirations of young people regarding ocean conservation.

Dr. Sourav Paul, Director of Education and Research at ECSF, has become the Fellow of the Future Earth Coasts for 3 years. All the best to him.

The ECSF secured two ‘Award of Outstanding Paper’ in categories such as the “Environmental Sciences including Climate Change” and the “Thematic Topic: Science and Technology for Disaster Management” in the 6th Regional (Region 5: Howrah, Nadia, 24 S Parganas, 24 N Parganas) Science and Technology Congress, hosted by the University of Kalyani, organized by the Department of Science and Technology and Biotechnology, Govt. of West Bengal between 3 and 4 January 2024. Dr. Sourav Paul was the winner of the category “Environmental Sciences including Climate Change” for his paper on the cyclone ecology research program of Indian estuaries whereas Ms. Shreya Das was the runner-up in the category “Thematic Topic: Science and Technology for Disaster Management” for her paper on the sustainable management of the embankments of Mousuni island, Indian Sundarbans. Both of them were awarded trophies, certifications, and 5000 cash prizes each. Both the presenters have automatically qualified for the State Science and Technology Congress, 2024 which would be organized by the Department of Science and Technology and Biotechnology, Govt. of West Bengal on 28 and 29 February 2024.

Arnob Paul and Pratyush Kumar Jana of the Department of Aquatic Biology have resumed work on fish diversity and heavy metal contamination in the lower stretch of the Ganges delta. Such research works are parts of their M.Sc dissertations, which they would be conducting under the supervision of Dr. Sourav Paul.

The ECSF and Purbasha Echo-helpline Society of Indian Sundarbans have jointly organized a workshop on  “Mangrove and Climate” with the communities of Indian Sundarbans between 27 and 28 December 2023. The program was to create awareness among kids and communities. The workshop was held at a pre-school at Chargheri village of Indian Sundarbans. The workshop was coordinated by “Mangrove Man” Umashankar Mandal and Ms. Debarati Sengupta. The workshop was endorsed by the ECOP program of the IOC – UNESCO UN Ocean Decade (2021-2030). 

Congratulations to all the students, scientists, management members, and well-wishers of the ECSF as their hard work let to the unique recognition of the foundation in the NGO Task Group of IOC-UNESCO UN Ocean Decade (2021-2030). The ECSF is the sole representation of India in the NGO Task Group. We aim to communicate various challenges related to estuaries and coasts and the communities for finding sustainable solutions in the UN Ocean Decade (2021-2030).

The ECSF and the B.B. College Asansol have jointly organized a one-day state-level workshop on “Environmental data analysis and decision making” on 13.12.2023 at the Department of Zoology of the B.B. College Asansol. The workshop trained various univariate statistical techniques and decision-making processes of environmental data analysis. The workshop was attended by U.G, and P.G students as well as faculty members of the college. Dr. Sourav Paul was the resource person who conducted the course through lectures followed by hands-on training of CRAN R software. 

The foundation in collaboration with B.E. College Model High School has conducted One Day field workshop on Water quality of a Ramsar Site at East Kolkata Wetland on 12 December 2023. Participants were higher secondary students and teachers of the school. On behalf of the ECSF Dr. Sourav Paul and Dr. Kanailal Das acted as resource persons.

Ms. Debarati Sengupta, the Ocean Literacy Coordinator of the foundation has been selected to participate in the International Symposium of the United Nations Regular Process on strengthening the ocean science-policy interface, which will take place in France, Paris from 12-13 December 2023. This will be conducted jointly by The United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.