Society for Conservation Biology Nepal in partnership with WWF Nepal successfully organized the Second Photo Conference 2022 marking the International Day for Biological Diversity, on May 22 to provide an avenue to share and discuss photos, featuring values of biodiversity and impending conservation challenges.

We received 260 photos from 119 participants. Among them, 100 photos were screened as suitable for public voting and presentation.

“Photo conference is an annual flagship program of the Society for Conservation Biology Nepal. The First Photo Conference 2021 was held on 5 June 2021 on the occasion of World Environment Day via the virtual Zoom Platform.”

This year too, the conference took place through a virtual platform i.e. via Zoom and live casted on Facebook in SCB Nepal Facebook. There were more than a hundred participants who registered and participated in this conference.

The Second Photo Conference was based on four themes:

1. Species, Ecosystem and Biodiversity Services
2. People, Conservation and Co-existence
3. Threats to Biodiversity
4. Year of Tiger 2022

The photo conference has been successful in disseminating the conservation messages to a wider audience-Dr. Prakash K. Paudel

The conference coordinator Mr Ambika Prasad Khatiwada, conducted the program while Dr. Prakash Kumar Paudel, President of SCB Nepal, chaired the session.

The conference program involved 2 keynote talks, 4 technical sessions with 40 photo presentations, and an award announcement session.

The keynote session included two presentations from imminent experts in the field. Dr. Madhav Karki, Distinguished Fellow, CGED-Nepal delivered the keynote talks on Linking science and practices in biodiversity conservation, whereas, Mr. Ramesh Thapa Former Warden, Bardia National Park, Nepal delivered another keynote talk on Biodiversity conservation at the frontline: Experiences from the field.

Four technical sessions were devoted to four thematic areas of conference topics and 40 photo presentations on different thematic areas. Dr. Krishna Prasad Acharya chaired the session “Realizing Biodiversity: Species, Ecosystem and Services”. Dr Naresh Subedi chaired session ” Harmonizing people and Biodiversity: Co-existence” Dr. Kiran Paudyal chaired the session  “Future of Biodiversity: Threats and Challenges”. Dr. Dr. Kanchan Thapa chaired session ” Protecting flagship Species: Year of Tiger 2022″.

At end of the program, Dr. Prakash K Paudel, concluded the conference with a vote of thanks and announced the winners as follows:.

First: National Trust for Nature Conservation- Biodiversity Conservation Center (NTNC-BCC) [Submitted and presented by Mr. Aasish Gurung and photo taken by Saneer Lamichhane],

Second: Rohit Giri,

Third: Durlav Rayamajhi

The conference report is available here.