Environment related tours for schoolchildren

by Ananda KANNANGARA

The Environment and Natural Resources Ministry (ENRM) recently called upon educationists in the country to motivate schoolchildren on the importance of protecting the country's biodiversity.

The ENRM also requested school principals and teachers to take students on more environment- related tours, so that the future generation could acquire a better understanding about preserving biodiversity. Addressing the media in Colombo, ENRM, Secretary, M.A.R.D. Jayatilleke, said the United Nations' General Assembly has declared 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB).

He said biodiversity is a valuable asset to any country and it is the responsibility of all persons to protect it without destroying it.

"Schoolchildren in the country who are the leaders of the future world must not allow anybody to destroy our historically valued biodiversity,".He said in addition, his Ministry has plans to organise tours in the future to take schoolchildren to various places in the country, with a different biodiversities.

"This nature of educational tours will help children to learn the importance of protecting biodiversity,". He said biodiversity which is described as the variety of all living organisms, including humans, fauna and flora, is of immense importance for our well-being, and we need to educate the next generation of its value.

"Our country is considered as one of the 'hotspots' of biodiversity in the world and one of the biologically richest countries in the Asian region,".

World Information Society Day - tomorrow

World Information Society Day which falls tomorrow, May 17 is celebrated every year to remind the world of the vision of the World Summit on the Information Society to build a "people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented information society" based on fundamental human rights.

World Information Society Day promotes people's awareness of the power of information and communication to build societies in which they can create, access, use and share information and knowledge to achieve their full potential. Organisations such as UNESCO actively take part in the day by inviting people to engage in various activities to promote campaigns centered on this event.

The annual observance of World Telecommunication Day, which marks the founding of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on May 17, 1865, drew attention to the work of ITU and the challenges of global communication. In March 2006, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed May 17 as World Information Society Day to recognise the efforts made to advance communication and ITU's role in helping people connect around the world. The UN's first World Information Society Day took place on Wednesday, May 17, 2006.

Prior to World Information Society Day, World Telecommunication Day, which was first held in 1969, was celebrated on May 17 by people and organisations such as ITU. Many now refer to this day as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, taking into account the UN's observance of World Information Society Day. The purpose of this observance is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the internet and other information and communication technologies could bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide.UNESCO has not allocated a specific symbol for the day, although it uses images of modern information and communication technologies to portray the importance of the day

Art exhibition

Presidential award winner, artist Mangala Madanayaka and his students will hold their annual Ballpoint Colour Art Exhibition on May 16 and 17 at the Galle Town Hall. Five-hundred water colour,oil, pastel, colour pencil and ballpoint drawings will be on display at the exhibition. The Mayor of Galle will assist them to conduct this event.