Ministry of Tourism (MoT) in collaboration with Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) launched the fifth training under the Amrit Dharohar Capacity Building Scheme on 6^th January 2024 for local community members, boat owners, and Forest department officials of Chilika Lake in the presence of Dr Sagnik Chowdhury, Regional Director (East), Ministry of Tourism, Dr M Ramesh, Scientist ‘E’, MoEF&CC, Dr Md Sabir Hussain, Nodal officer and Head, IITTM Bhubaneswar, Dr Amlan Naik, DFO Chilka Wildlife Division and Addl CEO, Chilika Development Authority (CDA), and other officials from CDA, and Forest Department, Govt of Odisha.

Under this initiative, two training programmes of 15 days each namely Alternative Livelihood program (ALP), and Paryatan Navik Certificate (PNC) will be conducted. With the help of the Chilika Development Authority (CDA) a total of 60 participants (30 for each course) were identified from the local communities in and around Chilika Lake to impart trainings and subsequently certifying them as nature-guides.

This is part of the ongoing effort of enhancing livelihood opportunities for local communities through harnessing the nature-tourism potential of the Ramsar Sites across the country under the Amrit Dharohar Initiative of the MoEF&CC. In the first phase of this programme, five priority Ramsar sites were identified namely Sultanpur National Park, Sirpur wetland, Yashwant Sagar, Bhitarkanika National Park, and Chilika Lake. The first three training programmes for Sultanpur National Park, Sirpur wetland, and Yashwant Sagar have been successfully completed in December 2023 and the fourth training that was inaugurated on 5^th January 2024 is currently undergoing.

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BY/SK