Rupesh Samant

Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji

Panaji, Aug 29: More than 30 organizations spread across India, working in the field of Biodiversity and its conservation have come together to host a mega national event – Big Butterfly Month: India 2020, starting from September 5, a senior official said.

“Big Butterfly Month: India 2020 will be the first of its kind in India where butterfly experts, enthusiasts and organizations across India are joining hands for a month-long event,” said Parag Rangnekar, president of the Goa-based Foundation for Environment Research and Conservation (FERC), which is the coordinating organization.

He said that from September 5-20 various activities such as Big Butterfly Count, Butterfly Online Workshops and contests on Butterfly Photography, Butterfly Journaling, Butterfly Videography, and Butterfly Lifecycle will be conducted across India. “More than 30 organizations working in the field of biodiversity and its conservation have come together to put up this event,” he said.

“The Big Butterfly Count will be held on an all-India level from September 14-20 where all the participants would be encouraged to log in their submissions into our well-established and preferred citizen science digital platforms: Butterflies of India, iNaturalist, and India Biodiversity Portal,” he said.

Rangnekar said that the celebration would also include competitions and outreach programmes through the virtual media educating and sensitizing people about butterflies. “Such programmes will be conducted in most of the states including Goa,” he added.

He said that the Big Butterfly Month is being held on an all-India level, where the participants would collect the data in their backyard of the species of butterflies that are seen.