School of Agriculture organized an International Webinar on “Innovative, Low Tech, High Impact, Nature-Based Sustainability Solutions in Water Category” on 12th October, 2019 in the Seminar Hall of Uttaranchal Institute of Management (UIM). The Webinar was organized along with Water Air Food Awards (WAFA) under the coordination of Dr. Sapna Jarial. The purpose of the Webinar was to provide an exchange and exposure to Agroclub students (SOA) with and of WAFA (a Danish NGO having global reach). WAFA identifies, certifies and promotes community based sustainability breakthroughs from around the world. The Key Speakers of the event included Ms. Tina Lindgreen, Chairperson and President WAFA (from Denmark), Mr. Alper Almaz, Chief of Awards Officer from Turkey and Dr. Sneha Singh, Chief Corporate Relations Officer from the USA. The dignitaries present included Prof. (Dr.) J. P. Mishra, Principal – SOA (Chairman of the Webinar), Dr. S Jarial (Coordinator) along with students as rapporteurs.
The event started with the Welcome Address delivered by Prof. Mishra wherein he introduced the Experts. The Webinar started with a presentation delivered by Ms. Tina Lindgreen. Mr. Alper Almaz delivered a presentation on procedures and tools used in selection of applicants for award. Dr. Sneha Singh gave a presentation on results and conclusion of WAFA work in water category. All the speakers used interactive videos and power-point presentations as mode of presentation and included Question Answer Session. Students were informed about the works of out- standing award winners from India towards tackling soil and water degradation challenge. To mention a few, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation managed bio- industrial watersheds with community involvement, the challenge of flooding of seasonal rivers was worked upon by Kamalnayan Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation and the problem of ground water-depletion, less drinking and irrigation water challenge was looked into by Mazhapolima (a state government initiative of Participatory Well Recharge Program) by using simple technique of roof-top water harvesting.
Dr. Jarial delivered Vote of Thanks and expressed gratitude towards Hon’ble Chancellor – Uttaranchal University Shri. Jitender Joshi and Vice Chancellor Prof. (Dr.) N. K. Joshi along with the Key Experts and the active participants. The sharing of the highlights of the Webinar through Twitter was managed by the student volunteers of Agroclub. The event encouraged, guided and persuaded the students to bring solutions to water challenges in agriculture by their active contribution.
