Rajamanikam Ramamoorthy-Wetlands awareness program for local community school drop-out kids
Wetlands are biodiversity rich sensitive ecosystems that harbor hundreds of plants, insects, birds and other animals uniquely adapted to their wetland mode of life.They are crucial to maintain the regional water balance through ground water recharge and absorption of flood waters and also serve as the rice bowl of developing countries. Nevertheless, wetlands play immense role in the socio-economic and livelihood aspects of local communities living around the wetland. In India, rural communities depend wetland for livelihood through farming, mat making etc; for food through fishing and hunting; for roof thatching by collection of reeds and palm leaf ; for firewood; for fodder etc. However, these wetlands are now under a threat of conversion for big industrial and real estate projects, change in lifestyle of local community, over extraction of resources by increased population, pollution,waste dumping, eutrophication and pesticide farming. There are three important wetlands in the Puducherry region namely Oussudu, Bahour and Kaliveli that provide important resources for local communities and also are a home to tens of thousands of migratory birds that visit the Puducherry region in winter. These wetlands have been acknowledged as Important Bird Areas(IBAs) by IBCN, since many of these birds are represented in more than 1% of their global population.
The recent threat on wetlands of Puducherry is more due to the change in life style of local community living around these wetlands. The younger generation is not much dependent on wetland resources, The younger and modern generation has lost the compassion and bonding to the wetland which their forefathers maintained through sustainable livelihood practices. This has resulted in a change in attitude and perception of the community towards unsustainable farming and resource extraction, game hunting, intensive fishing and reclamation, ultimately resulting in shrinking of wetland area and loss of biodiversity at an alarming pace. Local community is leaving the traditional farming practices for more fertilizer and pesticide based farming; fish stock is depleted using invasive Gill nets. Since Puducherry is fast developing region with rapidly growing commercial tourism and industrial establishments, these wetlands are under the threat of reclamation for resort construction and other commercial establishments. Poaching for a sport as well as open selling of birds including the threatened species is common. School drop-out are noticed to get attracted to such practices to make easy money as well as hunting for a sport with peers. With time, they may grow into expert hunters who will depend on poaching as the main source of income for the family. There are many wetland awareness programs organized by Forest Department as well as NGOs targeting school kids and educated community through workshops. School drop-outs are often not specially targeted by any of such programs and often not brought under the ambit of such programs. This gap needs to be addressed for local conservation efforts to be fully effective. We have chosen birds as the umbrella species whose conservation will in turn protect the lake and biodiversity as a whole. Birds are attractive and beautiful; ,which may easily get compassion from drop-out kids if guided appropriately. With proper efforts, the poachers can be turned to protectors and expert tour guides to facilitate ecotourism.
Rajamanikam Ramamoorthy-Wetlands awareness program for local community school drop-out kids
Wetlands are biodiversity rich sensitive ecosystems that harbor hundreds of plants, insects, birds and other animals uniquely adapted to their wetland mode of life.They are crucial to maintain the regional water balance through ground water recharge and absorption of flood waters and also serve as the rice bowl of developing countries. Nevertheless, wetlands play immense role in the socio-economic and livelihood aspects of local communities living around the wetland. In India, rural communities depend wetland for livelihood through farming, mat making etc; for food through fishing and hunting; for roof thatching by collection of reeds and palm leaf ; for firewood; for fodder etc. However, these wetlands are now under a threat of conversion for big industrial and real estate projects, change in lifestyle of local community, over extraction of resources by increased population, pollution,waste dumping, eutrophication and pesticide farming. There are three important wetlands in the Puducherry region namely Oussudu, Bahour and Kaliveli that provide important resources for local communities and also are a home to tens of thousands of migratory birds that visit the Puducherry region in winter. These wetlands have been acknowledged as Important Bird Areas(IBAs) by IBCN, since many of these birds are represented in more than 1% of their global population.
The recent threat on wetlands of Puducherry is more due to the change in life style of local community living around these wetlands. The younger generation is not much dependent on wetland resources, The younger and modern generation has lost the compassion and bonding to the wetland which their forefathers maintained through sustainable livelihood practices. This has resulted in a change in attitude and perception of the community towards unsustainable farming and resource extraction, game hunting, intensive fishing and reclamation, ultimately resulting in shrinking of wetland area and loss of biodiversity at an alarming pace. Local community is leaving the traditional farming practices for more fertilizer and pesticide based farming; fish stock is depleted using invasive Gill nets. Since Puducherry is fast developing region with rapidly growing commercial tourism and industrial establishments, these wetlands are under the threat of reclamation for resort construction and other commercial establishments. Poaching for a sport as well as open selling of birds including the threatened species is common. School drop-out are noticed to get attracted to such practices to make easy money as well as hunting for a sport with peers. With time, they may grow into expert hunters who will depend on poaching as the main source of income for the family. There are many wetland awareness programs organized by Forest Department as well as NGOs targeting school kids and educated community through workshops. School drop-outs are often not specially targeted by any of such programs and often not brought under the ambit of such programs. This gap needs to be addressed for local conservation efforts to be fully effective. We have chosen birds as the umbrella species whose conservation will in turn protect the lake and biodiversity as a whole. Birds are attractive and beautiful; ,which may easily get compassion from drop-out kids if guided appropriately. With proper efforts, the poachers can be turned to protectors and expert tour guides to facilitate ecotourism.