Since majority of the participants were students/youth, programmes were tuned to keep them engaged. The presence of the nation’s prominent environmental lawyer Ritwick Dutta, from New Delhi, enthralled the other participants, NGO’s and small time environmental activists. Every day Rithwick spent over six hours in discussing activism, laws and enforcement. That was a great guidance to the NGO’s that compensated the minor setbacks of the SWG meet.
The second day was a great field day with participants having a happy outing in Kudremukh National Park. Here again Ritwick ignited the young minds with the environmental activism which saved the mother mountain.
Senior members of SWG - Pandurang Hegde, Archana Godbole, Suprabha, Somnath Sen, Carmen Mirinda, Pratim Roy, V.S.Vijayan, Sudhindar Sharma, Cladius, Vijayendra, Professors Ashok Rao Kundapur, Janarthanan and others involved themselves with youngsters through healthy dialogues.
Enough time and care was given to the grief expressed by the local ENGO’s of Tamil nadu who felt deeply hurt by the proceedings of SWG Ecology Experts Panel meet held at Ooty. Nilgiri Wildlife and Environment Association (NWEA), OSAI, Palni Hills Conservation Council (PHCC), Arulagam, Sathy Environments And Wildlife Association (SEWA), Eco Conservation Group, Cbe (ECG), Shola Trust, Green Peace, Safe Food Alliance representatives expressed/passed their grievances to the core committee based on the coordinated efforts made by Pratim Roy of Keystone Foundation.
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