Fatikkhari (Chittagong) Correspondent

A seminar on "The role of journalists for river conservation" was organized at the Halda River Research Laboratory of Chittagong University on Sunday.

Jointly organized by Halda River Research Laboratory and River Club Bangladesh and jointly coordinated by River Touring Team, Green Planet, the main speaker of the seminar was Md. Soumik Ahmed, Environmental Journalist, Channel I.

Md. Monir Hossain, Chairman, Bangladesh River Touring Team and Eng. Mizanur Rahman, Chairman, Green Planet were also present as guests.

The program was presided over by Professor Dr. Md. Manjurul Kibria, Coordinator Halda River Research Laboratory. Mohammad Shamchil Arefin, Lecturer, Department of Zoology was also present at the programme .

Mohammad Shamchil Arefin gave the welcome speech for the program, he presented information on the topic of the seminar and about the River Club. Later, the president of the seminar, Professor Dr. Md. Manzrul Kibiria, presented the commemorative awards to the honored guests.

The keynote speech of the seminar was delivered by Md. Soumik Ahmed, who highlighted the need for specialized journalism and research. He said that journalists need to increase their self-awareness to save rivers. He spoke about the impact of climate change on rivers, river pollution, and river encroachment. Later, Kamrul Hasan Shanto, the organizing secretary of the River Club, presented a presentation on the goals and objectives of the River Club.

Then, Md. Monir Hossain spoke at the program, he said that journalism depends on three things, print, visual and photography. He also said "Journalism is a tool of river conservation" and he also highlighted the need for river inspections to save rivers because the need for related knowledge to create awareness is extensive. Later, he highlighted the relationship between a journalist and a researcher through nature-based journalism. Engineer Mizanur Rahman said that large-scale change in society is possible only through the hands of the youth. Later, he highlighted some points about the role of journalists.

Among them were the role of journalists in increasing the participation of youth in river awareness, policy making, information search for corruption, and the role of journalists. In the next stage of the program, an open lecture was organized among the students present at the seminar. There, pollution of the Buriganga and Padma rivers, increase in traffic fees, and some other valuable information came up. Finally, the program was declared over with the closing speech of Professor Dr. Md. Manjurul Kibria.