BAHAWALPUR– A meeting regarding the “Protected Areas Management of Pakistan” was chaired by the Vice Chancellor, the Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Engr. Prof. Dr. Athar Mahboob. The meeting was jointly organized by Cholistan Institute of Desert Studies (CIDS) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Despite COVID-19 pandemic different stakeholders of Forest and Wildlife department from all the provinces of Pakistan, along representatives of UNDP, EVK2CNR, HFI and IUB faculty members participated to finalize the plan for the Protection of Natural Resources. Director CIDS, Prof. Dr. Shazia Anjum welcomed all the members of the meeting.
Ashiq Ahmed Khan (renowned world Conservationist and Scientific representative of Ev-K2-CNR) emphasized that it is need of the present critical situation to bring researchers and managers together, for discussing field issues and needful arrangements to address them through scientific research.
He also admired all the efforts of The Vice Chancellor of Engr. Prof. Dr. Athar Mahboob Saheb for the betterment of the university. The worthy Vice Chancellor briefed about the conservation issues and he mentioned about his holistic approach to inculcate critical thinking among future generation.
He admired that IUB researchers and especially CIDS have long tradition of full filling their commitments and they can do wonders if financial constraints are removed. He further emphasized for the joint research projects, MoUs and financial support of UNDP to IUB researchers. The meeting ended with this conclusion that scientific management of natural resources is crucial need for sustaining its communities and their better livelihoods.
Webinar
An international webinar “From Pandemic to infodemic: How to fight Disinformation and Fake News?” was jointly organized by the Department of Library & Information Science and Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan Library.
The International Webinar highlighted the significance of promoting information literacy, health information literacy, digital literacy and media literacy and the roles of information professionals to combat misleading news in all forms. Dr. Naresh Agarwal, President-elect ASIS&T (USA), Associate Professor and Director of the Information Science & Technology Concentration at the School of Library & Information Science at Simmons University, Boston, thoroughly discussed “How to fight disinformation and fake news”.
Dr. Nurazzura Mohammad Diah, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, International Islamic University Malaysia, deliberated on “Information (Self) Filtering During COVID-2019: The Malaysian Experience”, and Dr. Omair Shafiq from School of Information Technology, Carlton University, Canada delivered a comprehensive letter on “Driving User Insights Through Intention Assessment During the COVID_19 Pandemic”.
More than 100 participants from different university libraries of Pakistan and abroad such as Malaysia, USA, Canada, and India attended the webinar including the faculty members, researchers and information professionals.
Engr. Prof. Dr. Athar Mahboob Vice-Chancellor, the Islamia University of Bahawapur appreciated the timely conduct of the event. Prof. Dr. Rubina Bhatti, Chairperson, DLIS, IUB, Chief Librarian was the Focal Person and Dr. Salman Bin Naeem, Associate Professor was the Coordinator and Moderator of the International Webinar.— PRESS RELEASE
