Three Village Level Environmental Children’s Groups (VLECGs) were formed in selected villages under SSEP in Mannar District. 155 children from VLECGs were taken for an educational exposure tour on 13th February 2023. The main objective of this exposure visit to educate children about natural resources and the importance of conserving the natural resources. Hence, children were taken to Vankalai bird sanctuary and bird watching tower. Vankalai bird sanctuary is located in Mannar District. Because of it’s numerous bird species it had been declared as a sanctuary by Department of Wildlife Conservation, and also it was declared as a RAMSAR site in 12th July 2010. An officer from Department of Wildlife Conservation was accompanied with this exposure tour and an awareness session on conservation of birds & wildlife was conducted by him.
Later children were taken to Department of forest conservation. Children were educated about the importance of planting trees, forest conservation, services of Department of Forest Conservation by an officer there. Different varieties of plants in the plant nursery was introduced to the children. Further, children were also taken to Kunchukulum suspension bridge, dam, Kaddukkarai pond and Mannar BAOBAB tree.
The feedback from the children was very satisfactory for the organizing team. Some children stated that after this exposure visit only they came to know that there is a bird sanctuary exists in Mannar, Some kids also pointed out that they were well educated about the environment and conservation, so they promised to conserve nature as much as possible.
