(source: the hindu, 03.09.2008) land mammals in...

FROM THE STATE DIRECTOR’S DESK

Climate change is one of the most importantenvironmental concerns that we have ahead of us. Thishas manifested as a result of our carefree attitude andcareless activities. And the solution to mitigate climatechange is also in our hands. One of the most importantand simple solution suggested is to offset carbonthrough afforestation programmes. On one side whenwe are launching many national, state and localafforestation programmes by government, NGOs,corporates etc on the other side, for one or the otherdevelopment programmes, we are mercilessly cuttingdown our green cover, be it in the forests, wetlands oravenue trees. And if one critically evaluates theeffectiveness of our afforestation programmes andschemes, then that also gives us shocking figures. It ishigh time that we put some genuine efforts in thisregard. Many a times we clear our green cover withoutrealizing its direct and indirect values and services.WWF has at the latest kicked off a project to assess thecarbon sequestration profile of mangroves andcomparison at ecosystem and species level. Manyyears back Kerala used to have vast stretches ofmangroves spread in many parts of Kerala. Due to ourdevelopment activities, mostly unplanned andunscientific, we have cleared out most of ourmangrove vegetation for road/ bund construction,tourism development, construction of boat jetties etc.It was again during the recent tsunami that mangroveswere highlighted as natural coastal barriers.Mangroves provide a wide range of functions andservices to the environment and also to the society.But unfortunately, in Kerala, as of now, we have onlyvery little remnants of mangrove vegetation and thattoo only in Kannur district. Few conservation projectshave already covered the various other aspects ofmangroves and this project proposes to study thecarbon sequestration aspect of the mangrovevegetation. We are not speaking against development,but only about a balance between development andenvironment. Much emphasis should be given onecosystem conservation when we are dealing with thevarious natural ecosystems that we have around uswhich are the ‘spheres of life’. This has time and againbeen brought to our minds through the variousprogrammes that we had organized during this periodof two months, be it, the International Coastal CleanupDay, World Tourism Day, Wildlife Week etc.

Renjan Mathew Varghese, State Director

September - October 2008

Newsletter of WWF - India, Kerala State Office, Thiruvananthapuram 695 035

for a living planet

Mruthika / September - October 2008 / 1

IMPORTANT NEWS ONENVIRONMENT AND NATURE

GLOBAL

Global warming stirring up stormsMeteorologists are predicting a more active hurricane

season than usual this year, but there is no way to knowwhether global warming has caused an individual eventsuch as a hurricane, or whether it has made such stormsworse. On the other hand, some scientists argue that stormssuch as Gustav are more likely in a warming world, becausewarmer seas make more powerful storms. If anything, thescience has become fuzzier in the years after HurricaneKatrina, with studies suggesting that future storm strengthcould increase in places but decrease in others — studiesseized on by both sides of the debate. Last year’s report fromthe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) saidit was “likely” that global warming would make futurecyclones more intense. Studies of hurricane records suggestthis trend can already be seen. Some scientists have linkedan increasing number of hurricanes in the north Atlantic toglobal warming. From 1850-1990, the overall averagenumber of tropical storms in the north Atlantic was about10, including about five hurricanes. Since 1995, the 10-yearaverage has risen, with the 1997-2006 average at about 14,including about eight hurricanes. The IPCC report said thiswas “more likely than not” down to global warming. (Source:The Hindu, 03.09.2008)

Land mammals in perilNearly a quarter of the world’s land mammal species,

including some in southern India’s Western Ghats, are atrisk of extinction. And many others may vanish before theyare even known to science, according to an extensive surveyof global wildlife. At least 1,141 of the 5,487 known speciesof mammals are threatened, with 188 listed in the “criticallyendangered” category. One in three marine mammals is alsothreatened, according to the five-year review. Theassessment, conducted by the World Conservation Union(IUCN) Red list, involved more than 1,700 experts in 130countries, and confirms the devastating impact of forestclearing, hunting, fisheries, pollution and climate changeon the populations and ranges of the world’s most studiedclass of animals.

Experts believe 29 others may already have becomeextinct, including the Yangtze river dolphin, and the LittleEarth Hutia, a small rodent endemic to islands off Cuba,which has not been seen in nearly 40 years. Two species,the scimitar-horned oryx and Pere David’s deer, are extinct

2 / Mruthika / September - October 2008

in the wild, and only live on in captivity. Many species, suchas the grey wolf and brown bear, have experiencedsubstantial population declines and seen their rangescontract as their habitats have been destroyed. (Source: TheHindu, 08.10.2008)

SMS alert: elephant in the vicinityThe text message from the elephant flashed across

Richard Lesowapir’s screen: Kimani was heading for theneighboring farms. The bull elephant had a long history ofraiding villagers’ crops during the harvest, sometimeswiping out six months of income at a time. But this time amobile phone card inserted in his collar sent rangers a textmessage. Mr. Lesowapir, an armed guard and a driverarrived in a jeep bristling with spotlights to frighten Kimaniback into the Ol Pejeta conservancy.

Kenya is the first country to try elephant texting as away to protect both a growing human population and thewild animals that now have less room to roam. Elephantsare ranked as “near threatened” in the Red List, an index ofvulnerable species published by the World ConservationUnion.

The race to save Kimani began two years ago. The KenyaWildlife Service had already reluctantly shot five elephantsfrom the conservancy who refused to stop crop-raiding, andKimani was the last of the regular raiders. The Save theElephants group wanted to see if he could break the habit.So they placed a SIM card in Kimani’s collar, then set up avirtual “geofence” using a global positioning system thatmirrored the conservatory’s boundaries. Whenever Kimaniapproaches the virtual fence, his collar texts rangers. Theyhave intercepted Kimani 15 times since the project began.Once almost a nightly raider, he last went near a farmer’sfield four months ago. It is a huge relief to the small farmerswho rely on their crops for food and cash for school fees.Batian Craig, the conservation and security manager at the90,000-acre Ol Pejeta conservancy, said communitydevelopment programmes are of little use if farmers do nothave crops. He recalled the time when 15 families had theirharvests wiped out. The elephants can be tracked throughGoogle Earth software, helping to map and conserve thecorridors they use to move from one protected area toanother. The tracking also helps prevent poaching, asrangers know where to deploy resources. But the biggestbonus has been the drop in crop raiding. (Source: The Hindu,13.10.2008)

NATIONAL

Ministry rejects Kerala’s demand for 24-hourtraffic through park

The Ministry of Environment and Forests has turneddown the Kerala Government’s demand to open a 24-hourroad traffic through the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve inKarnataka, which connects Wayanad district with Mysore,fearing ecological imbalance in the park. At present, trafficis not allowed between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. on the 33-km stretchthrough the reserve. The decision taken by the KarnatakaGovernment three months ago in the interest of the wildlifein the reserve had left the Kerala Government fuming asthe stretch under dispute is part of a 115-km road that joinsMysore in Karnataka with Wayanad in Kerala. The World

Bank had made an environmental impact assessment of theroad two years ago in which it said traffic had an adverseand hazardous impact on wildlife. “It had also suggestedmitigating measures such as check on vehicular movementas well their speed to ensure that animals are not knockeddown,” a senior official of the Nagarahole reserve said oncondition of anonymity.

One of the finest remaining habitats of the Asiaticelephant and Royal Bengal tigers, Nagarahole is situated inthe Deccan Plateau and forms an integral part of the Nilgiribiosphere. (Source: The Hindu, 22. 10.2008)

STATELaw to check groundwater exploitationproposed

The State Government is planning to draft a new law tocheck the exploitation of groundwater in the State. WaterResources Minister N.K. Premachandran said the proposedlegislation would include stringent measures aimed atregulating the indiscriminate use of groundwater.

The proposed legislation would work out measures toovercome the legal position that ownership of groundwaterwas bundled along with the land where such resource wasfound. The Water Resources Department would recommendregulation on exploitation through legislation and effectiveadministration with focus on water conservation, recycle,and reuse, restrictions to ensure equitability in wateravailability and pragmatic land use.

Rain water harvesting would be promoted to facilitateground water recharge, especially in ground water-stressedareas. Public participation would be ensured. The draft lawwould recommend creating public awareness of theimportance of rainwater harvesting in recharging groundwater, he said.

The new legislation would recommend steps to regulatethe unchecked extraction of water from wells for tankertrade. It would also ask local bodies to work out newmethods to meet the growing water demand in cities. Thedemand-supply gap had increased the sale of water throughtanker lorries. The local bodies would be told to conductsurprise raids to nab those involved in indiscriminateexploitation of water for commercial purposes. Sources inthe Water Resources Department said the proposedlegislation would be delayed, as there were no stringentgroundwater regulations in the country to checkexploitation.

The legal and administrative hurdles in implementingthe provisions would also be a problem for those involvedin drafting the proposed law. Lack of accurate data on thenumber of illegal tube-wells and pumps in the State mightalso stretch the process of finalizing the new legislation, theysaid. (Source: The Hindu, 12.10.2008)

Curbing wildlife crimes A few law enforcement agencies, including the Central

Industrial Security Force, the Coast Guard, RailwayProtection Force and the Police, will soon take their firstlessons in Indian Wildlife Act and wildlife offences to curbwildlife crimes. The Central wildlife authorities have startedan awareness programme among the Central and State


agencies on offences related to wildlife, the modus operandiof wildlife offenders and trade patterns of wildlife products.The officials of these forces will also be given a generalawareness of the wildlife products that are banned fromtrading and also a few lessons in identification of wildlifespecies that are forbidden for possession, said a seniorofficial of the Central Wildlife Wing.

In Kerala, awareness programmes were recentlyorganised for a few Customs officials. Similar exercises willsoon be held for other forces too, he said. Sandalwoodsmuggling and ganja cultivation are the major offences thathave been reported from the State forests. The offencesrelated to the felling of teak and rosewood from the forestshas also been reported. The timber of forest-grown teak androsewood are of great demand in the market, as they areconsidered superior in quality than the timber fromplantations, officials said.

The Wildlife officials consider the Malabar area as a“problem area” regarding wildlife crimes. The dense forestsof Silent Valley are haven and treasure trove for wildlifeoffenders. The officials are said to be in possession ofintelligence inputs relating to the smuggling of valuableinsects and arachnids from the area. The officials said thatthere were reports of illegal collection of Jewel beetle andGiant spiders from the forest area. In the Marayur forestarea, ganja was cultivated in tribal settlements by usingtribals as cover. Last month, two lakh ganja plants weredestroyed in the Marayur Forest Division alone. (Source: TheHindu, 20.10.2008)

Winged visitors losing havenWinged visitors to one of the most beautiful parts of the

region are facing the threat of being shot, bundled in gunnybacks and whisked away to be placed on appetizing menus.The near-threatened species of Oriental Darter birds, alongwith Little Cormorants and Indian Cormorants that havearrived to build quite a large bird colony atop trees in thePandi Island in Cheruthana village of Karthikapally taluk,are the seasonal visitors who are being shot by trigger-happyhunters.

Pandi Island, a scenic spot but inhabited unlike thePathiramanal Island and quite close to the ThottapallySpillway that opens to the sea, has been a regular nestingspot for migratory birds like the Darter, which is listed onthe Red Data Book of Indian Birds. However, the danger ofthese birds being shot down from their high perches beganthis year.

According to B. Sreekumar, President of the KottayamNature Society (KNS), the Society had stumbled upon thenesting spot of these visitors, atop an ‘Anjili’ tree situatedon a private plot on the island during a recent survey. TheSociety also came to know that the local public was quiteirritated with the birds as their droppings were “polluting”the premises.

The Society began a subtle campaign to create awareness,only to be taken aback by the news that hunters from as faras Ernakulam were training their guns on the spot. “We weretold by locals, who had stopped troubling the birds afterour campaign, that there were days when these hunterswould shoot down the birds and take them away in gunnybags,” S. Suresh Kumar, a KNS member, said. (Source: TheHindu, 08.10.2008)

Wildlife Sanctuary at Kakkayam soonThe Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary at Kakkayam in

Kozhikode would be a reality soon, said Forest MinisterBenoy Viswom. The Minister said that only a few moretechnical formalities remained to be completed. He saidwork on the project was in the last stage and the projectwould be a reality soon. The Minister said various projectswould be taken up as part of protection of the Kadalundiand Vallikunnu areas which had been declared a communityreserve, the first of its kind in the State. He said this projectwould be a “model for other states to follow.”

Mr. Viswom disputed the findings of the recent tigercensus conducted by the National Tiger ConservationAuthority at the Periyar Tiger Reserve. He said the reservehad definitely more tigers. (Source: The Hindu, 03.10.2008)

Large number of Kerala animals, plantsin Red List

From Myristica malabarica, a tree found in swamp forests,to birds such as Painted stork and Black-headed ibis andmammals such as Malabar civet and Nilgiri tahr, a largenumber of plants and animals endemic to Kerala are therein the latest Red List of Threatened Species brought out bythe IUCN. The list includes 35 mammals of Kerala, includingthe critically endangered Malabar civet, said P.O. Nameer,South Asian Co-ordinator of the Conservation BreedingSpecialist Group of the IUCN. Of the mammals in Kerala,12 are endangered, 15 vulnerable and seven near-threatened,Dr. Nameer said.

The endangered animals in the State include Fishing cat,Elephant, Wild dog, Lion-tailed macaque and Tiger, whereasthe vulnerable ones include Sloth bear, Brown mongoose,Small-clawed otter, Smooth-coated otter, Dusky-stripedsquirrel and Black-footed gray langur. Rattus ranjiniae, a ratvariety, was moved from vulnerable to endangered categoryin the 2008 list. The rat, according to the Red List, is knownto be identified from three “severely fragmented locationsat Alappuzha, Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram.” (Source:The Hindu, 13.10.2008)

Oriental Darter, Anhinga melanogasterOriental darter is a waterbird found around lakes, rivers,

marshes, swamps, estuaries and mangroves of Kerala.Though the bird is included in the Ist Schedule of WildlifeProtection Act 1972, and is enrolled in Red Data Book ofIUCN, it has a better population in Kerala. These birds caneasily be seen at Vembanad Lake, Periyar Lake, KoleWetlands of Thrissur etc.

It is a large bird with black and brown plumage withreddish brown long bill. Young ones are white in clour andgradually they turn into brownish black. So a mix of yellow,brown, off white colours can be seen for these birds atdifferent stages of its development. White marks also canbe seen on the wings and tails while basking. While roamingon the surface of water, the long neck and beak only can beseen and hence it got its popular name Snake Bird. This birdswims and dives in water and spears the fishes with its

SPECIES OF THIS ISSUE


International Coastal Cleanup Day 2008WWF – India, Kerala State Office with volunteers and

nature club members observed International CoastalCleanup Day 2008 with the beach-cleaning programme from7am to 9.00 am at Shanghumughom Beach on September20th, 2008.

This is the third time the International Coastal CleanupDay is being observed locally under the initiative of WWF –India. More than a cleanup drive, the significance of theevent is with regard to the collection of the litter from a unitstretch of the beach and its segregation and furtherquantification. This data will then be given to the NationalCoordinating Agency in India i.e. National Institute of OceanTechnology (NIOT), Chennai who will then coordinate itsefforts with its global partners and compile the data andcome out with the final report on the trends in our coastaland marine pollution at a global scale. Volunteers collected5 bags of litter along a unit stretch of the beach, which wasthen sorted and counted and data compiled into an

ACTIVITIES OF WWF-INDIAKERALA STATE OFFICE

International Day for the Preservation of theOzone Layer 2008

The International Day for the preservation of the OzoneLayer was observed jointly by WWF-India, Kerala StateOffice and Kerala State Pollution Control Board with variouscompetitions and awareness programme for students on17th and 18th September 2008.

The Painting and Poster writing competitions were heldon 17th September 2008 at the Auditorium of Kerala StateChild Welfare Council, Thycaud, Thiruvananthapuram. Thetheme given was ‘Global Warming is Harming’. Around fiftystudents from different schools took part in the competitions.The poster writing competition was held in the forenoonand painting competition in the afternoon. The entries wereevaluated by an expert team comprising of experts fromCollege of Fine Arts under the University of Kerala andWWF-India.

The second day Awareness Programme was held atVanasree Auditorium of Kerala Forests and WildlifeDepartment, Thiruvananthapuram on 18th September 2008.The programme was inaugurated by Prof.M.K.Prasad,Executive Director of Information Kerala Mission andeminent environmentalist. The resource material publishedin connection with the event ‘The Ozone Story’ was releasedby him and received by Sri.Joe Prakash, Coordinator of NGC(National Green Corps) programme in Kanyakumari Districtof TamilNadu. Sri. Renjan Mathew Varghese, State Directorof WWF-India welcomed the guests and participants. Sri.A.K.Sivakumar, Education Officer of WWF-India deliveredvote of thanks. The programme was attended by 210students and their teachers from seven different educationalinstitutions.

sharply pointed bill with serrated edges; this is how theyget the name ‘Darter’. After fishing, this bird spreads itswings and sits on higher position for basking like that ofCormorants. The darters have completely webbed feet, andtheir legs are short and set far back on the body. These birdsnest in colonies called heronries along with Little and LargeCormorants. These heronries make lot of inconvenience tonearby residents with foul smell from droppings, andwasted fish from feed. This creates the major threat for thisendangered bird.

A.K.Sivakumar

internationally followed data sheet. Out of the wastecollected and analysed, the major contribution were fromplastic covers, disposable plastic cups and plastic spoons(50%). The second major contributors were icecream sticks,cups, lids and wrappers (25%). The remaining contributionwas from newspaper bits (10%) which is an outcome ofgroundnut selling, cigarette covers, buds, match sticks andtobacco packings (5%) mineral water bottles (5%), and otheruncategorized items like leather sandals, wound dressings,wood splinters, plastic toy etc (5%). This data collectioncomponent makes the International Coastal Cleanup Dayunique.


An observation game the ‘Spots and Stripes’ wasintroduced to the participants. The participants preparedan action plan for the coming months of this academic year.Nature education camp, rallies, poster writing competitions,debates, exhibitions, tree planting, bio farming, notice boardetc were some of them.

The workshop came to an end with the valedictorysession that was chaired by Sri.N.Ramachandran Nair,Advisory Board Member of SIELT. Some of the participantspresented their feedback on the workshop and expressedtheir opinion on increasing the duration of the workshop.Certificates were distributed to the participants.

KozhikodeThe Teachers Training Workshop was inaugurated by

Sri.N.Ramachandran Nair, District President of CBSE SchoolComplex and Advisory Board Member of SIELT in thefunction that was presided over by Sri.Chenthamarakshan,Principal of the school on 20th September 2008 at Veda VyasaSchool, Kozhikode. Ms.Suchithra Lal, Special Officer on dutyof SIELT welcomed the guests and participants. The sessionswere same as that of Malappuram.

The workshop came to an end with the valedictorysession. Some of the participants demanded to increase theduration of the workshop while expressing feed back.Certificates were distributed to the participants.

Exhibition on Climate Change at Mar IvaniosCollege, Thiruvananthapuram

WWF-India had associated with Mar Ivanios College,Thiruvananthapuram in organizing World Tourism Dayobservation. On 25th September, Sri.Cheriyan Philip,Chairperson of KTDC inaugurated the programme and Sri.Renjan Mathew Varghese, State Director of WWF-Indiadelivered the keynote address on the topic ‘Tourism andClimate Change’. WWF-India had arranged a posterexhibition also on the theme.

Wildlife Week 2008WWF-India, Kerala State Office observed Wildlife Week

2008 with diversified activities in association with variouslike minded organizations.

Dr.V.Sasikumar, Scientist from Center for Earth ScienceStudies (CESS) presented the topic “Our Atmosphere” withmultimedia presentation. Following this session, Mr. RenjanMathew Varghese conducted a quiz programme on ‘Ozonelayer’. The programme was designed as a interactive andlearning process rather than a competition. This programmeelevated the energy of the participants and the entire crowd.

In the afternoon session the animation film “OzzyOzone” developed by UNEP was screened. It told the storyof how ozone protects the Earth and how man’s interventionupsets all these systems.

After the movie screening, the student representativesfrom each school was called forward to share the experienceof the day and to give a feedback on how the programmewas beneficial to them.

The programme came to an end with the valedictorysession in which the certificates and prizes were awardedto the winners of the competitions conducted as part of theprogramme. Participation certificate was also given to allthe students.

Teachers Training WorkshopsTwo Teachers Training Workshops were conducted by

WWF-India, Kerala State Office and CPREEC Chennai inassociation with Sarvodaya Institute of EducationalLeadership and Training (SIELT), Kozhikode on 19th and20th September 2008 respectively.

MalappuramThe workshop was conducted at the Airport

Auditorium, Calicut and was inaugurated by Capt. DeepakShastri, Hon. Director of the Airport in the function thatwas presided over by Sri.Ibrahim Maliyakkal, DistrictPresident of CBSE School Complex. Sri.K.Unnikrishnan,Principal of the Airport School welcomed the guests andparticipants. Sri.N.Ramachandran Nair, Advisory BoardMember of SIELT introduced the workshop and theorganizers. Sri.C.Ramachandran, Secretary of Airport SchoolManaging Committee felicitated the workshop.Sri.K.Sadayakumar, Principal of MES Central School, Tirurdelivered vote of thanks.

Sessions on “Environment Education - Principles andAction”, “How to run Nature Clubs?” and “Methods ofEcosystem Interpretation” were led by Sri. A.K.Sivakumar,Education Officer of WWF-India and Dr.P.G. Sabu, Readerand Head of Dept of Physics, MAMO College, Mukkom,Kozhikode.


Le’Cole Chempaka School,Thiruvananthapuram

A single day awareness programme was conducted atLe’Cole Chempaka School at Thiruvananthapuram jointlywith Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO) Coimbatore on 3rdOctober 2008. Mrs.Meena Nair, Vice-Principal of SeniorSchool welcomed the organizers and introduced thesignificance of Wildlife Week to the students.

Slide show on ‘Wildlife of Kerala and its Management’was carried out by Sri.Renjan Mathew Varghese, StateDirector and Sri.A.K.Sivakumar, Education Officer of KeralaState Office for the entire junior school and senior schoolseparately in three slots with 70 students in each. ThePainting Competition on “Wildlife in our Surroundings” hadparticipation by fifty four students of Grade V. The ‘Coloringthe Bat’ competition was attended by 70 students of GradeIV with the bat book supplied by ZOO. The students ofGrade VIII presented six mini dramas on the topic ‘Bearsand Humans’. The themes covered by the students werepoaching, deforestation, animal teasing, plant animalinteraction etc. The poster kit on ‘Fruit Bats of South EastAsia’ were distributed.

Film Show on Wildlife atMuseum Compound, TVM

WWF-India joined hands with IT @School, aneducational project under Dept. of Education, Govt. ofKerala programme in conducting a series of film show onWildlife at Museum Compound, TVM targeting generalpublic from 2nd October to 6th October 2008.

Govt. Victoria College, PalakkadA single day awareness programme was conducted at

Govt. Victoria College, Palakkad on 7th October at theCollege Seminar Hall jointly with ZOO, Wildlife ProtectionSociety of India (WPSI), Southern Region and Eco friendsNature Club. The programme was attended by 70 studentsfrom different colleges. The focal theme of the programmewas “Tiger”.

The event was inaugurated by Sri.Winston S. Suting IFS,CCF (Wildlife) Palakkad Region. The topic ‘TigerConservation - National and State Scenario’ was presentedby Sri.Guruvayurappan, Coordinator of WPSI SouthernRegion. His presentation sketched on the timeline of tigerpopulation in India and the reasons of its fluctuations. Inthe afternoon session, Mr.A.K. Sivakumar led an activitysession on “Tiger in Our Culture”. This activity increased

the energy level of the participants and helped them to sharethe knowledge base on tiger in our culture. Following this,participants did demonstration using resource material kiton Tiger.

Govt. Higher Secondary School, Kattikkulam,Wayanad

An awareness programme on Elephants was conductedat Govt. Higher Secondary School, Kattikkulam, Wayanadon October 6th 2008 jointly with ZOO and Ferns NaturalistsSociety. Principal Smt. Chechamma Kuncheriyaninaugurated the programme. Sri.A Ajayakumar, Nature ClubCoordinator delivered a talk on “Role of Students in WildlifeConservation” and Sri. P.A.Vinayan delivered a lecture on“Human - Elephant Conflict and wildlife Conservation inKerala”. Resource material kits on Elephants provided byZOO were distributed to the students. Documentaries onwildlife conservation and wildlife sanctuaries were alsoscreened. Kum.Sreesha KR, President welcomed theresource persons, organizers and participants. Master.JithinMani, Secretary of Nature Club delivered vote of thanks.

Orientation Session for StudentsEducation Officer had an introductory session for the

students at Dr. ZHM Bharatiya Vidya Vihar, Changansseryon 17th October 2008 as they started a new Nature Club.Importance of their venture, their role and duties were wellexplained to them.

Publication of Wildlife Poster SeriesWWF-India, Kerala State Office has brought out a

series of 10 posters related to Wildlife of Kerala inconnection with Wildlife Week 2008. This has been


distributed to all the wildlife sanctuaries and nationalparks.

Green Gathering – ThrissurGreen Gathering for Thrissur district was held at St.

Johns Bethany EHSS, Kunnamkulam on 18th October 2008.Around 312 Nature Club Members gathered there from 29different educational institutions and Nature Clubs. Theprogramme was inaugurated by Sri.K.Jayanarayanan,Principal of Sri Vivekananda College, Kunnamkulam in afunction presided over by Rev. Fr. Mathai OIC, Principal ofthe school. Sri.Jain J. Therattil, District Coordinator of NatureClubs under WWF-India welcomed the participants andguests. Sri.A.K.Sivakumar, Education Officer, briefed on theGreen Gathering and its objectives. Rev.Fr.Solomon OIC,Manager of the School and Dr.A.V.Thampi, Principal ofRoyal Academy, Kunnamkulam felicitated the programme.Sri.Joy Joseph, Principal of Victoria College, Kunnamkulamdelivered the vote of thanks.

Following the inaugural session, Sri. A.K.Sivakumardelivered a lecture on ‘Biodiversity of Kerala’ and explainedon the need for conserving the same to ensure our naturalresources availability. During the post lunch session, Dr. JosC. Raphel, Director, Rain Centre, Thrissur presented the topic‘Jalasaksharatha’ (Water literacy). He explained theimportance of water conservation and how students canparticipate in water conservations program.

Nature orientation trip to Kallar –PonmudiA team of fourteen people went into the wilderness of

Kallar forests on 12th October 2008 to feel and enjoy itsbeauty and biodiversity. Since North West Monsoon hasstarted up, they enjoyed the bird and butterfly watching inthe rain. The team viewed varied distribution pattern ofdifferent forest patches and the human enclosures as mosaic.The leeches enjoyed a feast when they entered into one ofthe shola patches to see the less disturbed grass landecosystem. Importance of shola – grassland ecosystems, itsconnectivity to lower lying evergreen parches, uniquecharacteristics, bio richness etc were observed and discussed.

Nature Education Camp at PonmudyA Nature Education Camp was conducted at Kallar –

Ponmudy on 28th and 29th October 2008 with theparticipation of 15 teacher trainees from NSS TrainingCollege, Pandalam. The camp started at the low lyingevergreen forests of Kallar. After the introductory session,

the team had a nature watch trough the banks of a wildstream leading to Sooryathol falls, one of the tributary toKallar. During the trip they observed lot of birds, butterfliesand some snakes. They enjoyed the wilderness and the cooltouch of the stream.

The team stayed at the PWD Guest House at PonmudiHill Station and had discussion sessions on different topicsand the observations they had. On the second day morning,the team had a meditation to feel the nature. Theyexperienced the raising pace of natures wake up throughchirping of birds and increased light. The exercise madethem refreshed and moved on to nature watch. Followingthe breakfast, the team explored the grasslands and the sholapatches of Ponmudi Hills. The composition and ecologicalrole of the same was explained by Education Officer.Sri.C.Harikumar explained to them about the birds ofPonmudi. The hovering of a Common kestrel in the air forlong duration was a surprising sighting for the participants.The shola forests also provided lot of information to thecampers.

EDITORIAL BOARD

Mr. A.V. GeorgeMr. Renjan Mathew Varghese

Mr. A.K. Sivakumar

8 / Mruthika / September - October 2008Computer Graphics: read concepts, Sasthamangalam, Phone: 9447451314, Printed at: G.K.Printers, Kochi

Water is essential for life.

It covers 71% of the earth’s surface.

Everyone wants clean water to drink,

for recreation and to enjoy looking at.

If water becomes polluted,

it loses its value to us economically and aesthetically,

and can become a threat to our environment.

Join us in restoring the wholesomeness of Water

Kerala State Pollution Control Board(under the Department of Environment of the Government of Kerala)

Head Office: Pattom P.O., Thiruvananthapuram-695 004. Tel: General: 0471-232910, 2318153, 2318154, 2318155e-mail: [email protected] Fax: 2318152 web: www.keralapcb.org

Head Office of the Board is at Thiruvananthapuram. Regional Offices at Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode, District

Offices in all the districts. The Central Laboratory of the Board is at Ernakulam.

(source: the hindu, 03.09.2008) land mammals in...

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