Kurmeer has done exemplary work in stork breeding, enumeration and conservation. He campaigned for wetland management, biodiversity promotion, environment protection and Buddha's birth place as 'Clean Lumbini, Green Lumbini'.
What you should know
A stork is as tall as a bird. Like a stork, they look concentrated, calm and benign. Arjun Kurmi of Lumbini Cultural Municipality-1 Bhagwanpur in Rupandehi is a good guardian of Saras and a happy friend. Kurmi, who has been active in stork conservation for a decade, is going to the University of California Santa Barbara in the US to present his work.
The university has invited him as a 'guest lecturer'. Kurmeer has done exemplary work in stork breeding, counting and conservation. He campaigned for wetland management, biodiversity promotion, environment protection and Buddha's birth place as 'Clean Lumbini, Green Lumbini'.
University professor Mayfair Yang was impressed by the various campaigns he ran. The head of the university's 'Society for the Anthropology of Religion Development of Religious Studies' sent the invitation letter to Kurmi.
Kurmi will inform the 'undergraduate' students of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religious culture on 23rd October about how the local participation campaign for stork conservation in Lumbini was successful. He has also been asked to take a class on how people and communities of different religions and traditions have lived together and what lessons can be learned from them. On 23rd and 24th October, undergraduate students of the Society for the Anthropology of Religion Development of Religious Studies are also set to take a class on how to provide continuous dynamic life to Lumbini's storks, environment, biodiversity and living religious culture.
Kurmi said that he was very happy to receive a letter inviting him to come and take classes at an American university. 'Professor Mayfair Yang used to have a lot of questions and arguments. I used to try to clear all his questions as much as possible. "I never thought that I would have to come to America and teach like this," he said, "Getting an invitation from a famous university is a matter of pride even for a Lumbini resident." Professor Mayfair had visited Lumbini three times.
35-year-old Kurmi became close to birds at the age of 20, becoming interested in the environment, peace, harmony and compassion. In 2013, he founded Green Youth Club Lumbini. Now he has reached here by working through the same club. He also launched a green school campaign by forming 30 Eco Clubs in schools around Lumbini. He also performed street dramas of stork conservation in places.
Kurmi reached from Chitwan to Kanchanpur raising awareness among the youth about biodiversity, wetlands, environment and reducing wildlife crime. He has now started a campaign to plant 18,000 saplings in Lumbini area. Kurmi storks also participate in counting. Kurmi rescues injured storks, manages dead storks. He said that he treated 10 injured storks in a decade. There are about 700 storks in Nepal. 80 percent of them are around Lumbini and Kapilvastu.
Now he has become knowledgeable about storks, forests, environment and biodiversity. In 2014, World Wildlife Fund Nepal awarded Kurmi the 'Young Conservation Leader Award' for his good work in environmental protection.
For the first time in Nepal, Kurmi's organization has started using satellite tags to research storks. With the technical support of Beijing Forest University, permission has been obtained from the Government of Nepal to put satellite tags on 5 storks. Kurmi says that one can learn a lot about the stork from this.
The stork has been declared a city bird by Lumbini Cultural Municipality and a state bird by Uttar Pradesh, India. The stork is the tallest bird that can fly. There are 15 species of storks in the world. There are 4 species of storks in Nepal. Most of these are also in Lumbini region.
