Srinagar, May 11 (IANS): Jammu and Kashmir will soon have its first-ever Bird Festival to promote sustainable ecotourism and give impetus to nature based alternative sources of livelihood to the local people, it was announced on Wednesday.

This was disclosed in a meeting of officers chaired by Secretary, Tourism and Culture, Sarmad Hafeez.

The festival is tentatively being planned to be held in Pahalgam and Dachigam areas and besides the bird watching sessions, awareness camps and conservation drives during it, it would have pre-festival bird watching trails for more than a month all across J&K.

The festival would be jointly organised by the Tourism and Forests and Wildlife Departments with the support of Sanctuary Nature Foundation, a Mumbai-based organisation working for the preservation of birds and other wildlife.

Hafeez termed forests and wildlife important constituents of J&K's tourism and asked all the Departments concerned to work for a synergised approach to preserve these while putting the same to the display of visitors.

He called for constitution of Eco Clubs at schools and colleges at various tourist destinations to work in a coordinated manner for preserving the flora and fauna besides pristine beauty in these ecologically fragile zones.