Mayabunder, Feb. 3: World Wetlands Day is celebrated globally on 2nd February every year. This year, the Department of Geography, Mahatma Gandhi Government College Mayabunder in collaboration with the Department of Environment & Forest (DoEF), N&M Andaman, organized the celebration on 31st January 2025. The celebration began with a rally, flagged off by Dr. S. Dinesh Kannan, IFS, CCF at Helipad and concluded at Forest Club Mayabunder with an objective to sensitize the public about the importance of wetlands.
Later, the gathering was addressed by Shri Thomas Varghese, DFO, Mayabunder. This was followed by address of CCF on the importance of biodiversity and its conservation strategies. Principal MGGC, Dr. B. Prabhuram also spoke on the occasion. Smti Monideepa Chowdary, ACF, Mayabunder Division proposed the vote of thanks.
A beach cleanup drive and a mangrove plantation drive were held at Karmatang No. 9. During the beach cleanup drive, students of the Department of Geography, MGGC, collected and segregated around 16 bags of marine litter from the beach. The collected waste included plastic water bottles, juice bottles, glass bottles, beverage cans, food packaging wrappers, fishing gear and lures. The segregated waste was later handed over to the nearest Solid and Liquid Resource Management (SLRM) Center. The event concluded with a mangrove plantation drive, where students and faculty of the Department of Geography, MGGC, planted around 50 saplings of eight different mangrove species.