“Development is a double-edged sword; on one hand you provide employment to jobless youth by building industries and enhancing the economic growth of the country, but on the other hand you deplete forests and exhaust mineral wealth. Somewhere down the line, in quest for economic development the authorities appear to have deviated from the concept of holistic development and have severely impacted the environment.”
This was the opinion of experts and members of various NGOs, who had gathered to kick-start the campaign for the Earth Day here at Visakha Public Library on Tuesday.
C. Manjulatha, professor from the Department of Zoology, Andhra University, told The Hindu that the forest wealth in the city rapidly dwindled in the last three decades.
Holistic approach
“We have lost about 60% of forest cover, in the quest to build concrete jungle. The wetlands have shrunk to 1.07 sq km from 13.44 sq km as recorded in 1974,” she noted.
The Earth Day will be celebrated on Saturday across 192 countries in the globe and this year there are two themes: ‘Environmental and climate literacy’ for the common man and ‘March for science’ for the scientist and research community.
Addressing the gathering J.V. Ratnam of Green Climate said globally deforestation has been a major issue. Of the total of 16 million sq km of forest in the globe only 6.2 million sq km is left today. “We need to improve the forest cover to control the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for our future generation and for that we need to look at the local level.”
“Rampant and unplanned deforestation has resulted in soaring mercury in the city. Even the hills were not spared. To control the impact we need to take up forestation on the hills on a war footing,” he said.
P. Srinivasa Rao, environmental engineer from the Pollution Control Board, suggested that planting of bamboo trees on the hill slopes can be a good option.
“Bamboo trees produce 35% more oxygen than any other trees and they can grow anywhere without much care,” he said.
Mr. Ratnam also said authorities concerned should take up planting of more native varieties.
“The native trees such as ragi and badam have the capacity to absorb more salt content and moisture in the air, which is high in the city, than any other trees,” he said.
K. Satyanarayana from BREDS, P. Lalitha from Sewac, J. Rajeswari and P. Sirisha from Paryavarana Margadarsi Vaisakhi were present.
As part of the Earth Day celebrations the NGOs combine will take out a walk on Friday on the Beach Road.
