Nainital: The second edition of Uttarakhand Spring Bird Festival was inaugurated today at Chunakhan, about 45 km from here, with state Forest Minister Dinesh Agarwal throwing light on the state's potential to be developed as one of the hottest bird watching destinations.
An exhibition covering ecotourism, rural enterprise, and environmental awareness activities is also organised as part of the annual festival.
Inaugurating the five-day event, Aggarwal spoke at length on the huge potential of promoting Uttarakhand as a bird watching destination and about the state government's plans to establish a “Monal Foundation” in the name of state bird Monal.
On the inaugural day, a workshop on bird and rural tourism was organised to discuss challenges and potential of bird tourism in the state.
Among the recommendations made by the workshop, it was suggested that a forum whould be formed which will serve as a link between policy planners and stakeholders and undertake capacity building and marketing of various destinations.
Principal Secretary, Forest, Ranbir Singh said the state government is working on a plan to develop a web portal to extend marketing support to small state entrepreneurs.
Director General Forest S S Garbiyal gave the example of North Eastern Region and said improvement of rural economy has been attained in northeastern states by taking leverage of natural resource conservation.
Rajeev Bhartari, Chief Conservator Forest Ecotourism said the state boasts of more than 600 bird species and the variation in altitude offers a wide variety.
The festival is being attended by bird experts, scientists, rural enterprisers and community representatives.
During the festival, guided bird watching, book reading, film show, and nature walks are planned, added Bhartari.
Dance performance by Sonal Mansingh, workshop on significance of important bird areas by Asad Rahmani and Dhanajaymohan, photography workshop by Anup Sah, Threesh Kapoor and Jim Corbett Heritage Walk by Tom Alter are other hghlights of the five-day festival.
