Science Express : Biodiversity Special / বিজ্ঞান এক্সপ্রেস : ভারতের জীব বৈচিত্র  @JitendranathJana
Channel: Jitendranath Jana
Date: 2020-07-16

বিজ্ঞান এক্সপ্রেস : ভারতের জীব বৈচিত্র 
Science Express: Biodiversity Special (SEBS) 
We're part of the solution #ForNature
The Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), in a unique partnership with Department of Science & Technology (DST), launched an innovative exhibition mounted on a 16 coach air conditioned train rake. It envisaged running this innovative train mounted exhibition in two phases to cover at least 100 locations on Broad Gauge network of Indian Railway across the entire length & breadth of the country. Eight coaches of Science Express- Biodiversity Special are solely dedicated to showcasing the myriad biodiversity spread across the bio-geographical zones, viz. 
1.Trans-Himalaya & the Himalayas, 
2. Gangetic Plains, 
3.North East India,
4.The Desert & Semi-Arid Zone, 
5.Western Ghats,
 6.Deccan Peninsula
 7. Coasts & Islands
 with a focus on range of Biological diversity, critically endangered species, biodiversity hotspots, domesticated biodiversity, biodiversity & livelihoods, bio-culture; threats/challenges, conservation measures, success stories & unique experiences. Four other coaches have interesting & informative exhibits on Climate Change, Energy and Water conservation while another coach has the Joy of Science Lab in which students are guided to perform various experiments & activities to understand concepts in science besides a demonstration-cum-training facility for capacity building of teachers. About 40 young Science/Biodiversity Communicators remained on-board in another coach throughout the journey and explained the content and purpose of the exhibition to curious visitors. SEBS was launched on World Environment Day (5 June 2012) from Delhi Safdarjung by Smt. Sheila Dixit, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Delhi and Smt. Jayanti Natarajan, Hon’ble Minister of State (I/C), (MoEF). During its first phase which ended on 22 December 2012 at Ahmedabad, it made halts of 3-4 days duration each at 51 locations and over 23 lakh people visited SEBS, this was way above the envisaged target of 15 lakhs visitors. It includes 6 lakh students and 32000 teachers from 7000 schools. The train was also stationed at Secunderabad during 9-19 October 2012 to showcase it to delegates to CoP-11. Wherever the train traveled, activities were been planned before-hand to engage visitors across different age groups to reinforce the message of SEBS and specific Outreach Programme were conducted at local schools and institutions associated with the National Environment Awareness Programme (NEAC) and National Green Corps (NGC) of MoEF and associates & partners of DST. In addition, a variety of interesting & informative takeaway material was made available for wider distribution among visitors. The train also reflected the dedication, diligence and dynamism of the knowledge partners who contributed immensely to bring forth the essence of ‘biodiversity’ and conservation practices as well as issues of ‘climate change’ in our country. Vikram A Sarabhai Community Science Centre (VASCSC) and Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Ahmedabad along with the lead knowledge partner including Bombay Natural History Society, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, G. B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, National Museum of Natural History, Wildlife Institute of India and Wildlife Trust of India, and several others contributed to give extremely useful information in this unique exhibition on wheel.

#biodiversity
#viral 
#science 
#creativelearning 
#experientiallearning 
#learning