Ninety-year-old K. Venkatachalam, president, Save Eastern Ghats, who spearheaded the Save Western Ghats March from Tamil Nadu as the chief co-ordinator on Monday, called upon people to turn the historic 100 days march that set the momentum to save the environment in 1987 into a movement. “Everyone should come together in this struggle to protect our environment. It should be a constant process,” he said.
Participating in the Commemoration of 30 Years of Save the Western Ghats March 1987-2017 organised at Aranya Forest Sanctuary, he added that he has not been able to actively participate in the movement due to age and paucity of time. “At least three to four centres should be identified in Goa, Puducherry, Kerala and exhibitions should be organised. All the events should be carefully recorded,” he noted.
D.Saravanan from Aranya Forest and Sanctuary, Auroville, who joined the Save the Western Ghats March at the age of 19, was one of the main organisers of the event. Nearly 10 people were honoured with Auroville Aranya Bio-Diversity Conservation Excellency Award – 2017. S.Jayachandran, Joint Secretary, Tamil Nadu Green Movement, was awarded lifetime achievement award for his work on conservation of wild life biodiversity, preventing human animal conflicts in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve and organising environment awareness programme to various stack holders through documentation and research. The other award winners included G.Radhakrishnan, activist and journalist; E.Srinivasan, Chairman, Yatra Arts Foundation; R.Sarvesh Kumar, activist from Marakkanam; Mneme George, journalist from Kerala; T.S.Subramaniya Raja, Founder, Secretary of Wildlife Association of Rajapalayam; M.Srinivasa Reddiar from Puducherry, R.Gowri, trained graduate teacher from Puducherry; Ancy Mathew from Kerala and N.Sathiamoorthi, environmentalist from Auroville.
Talk by tree planters
At the South Indian Tree Planters Meet held on July 9 and 10 at the Biodiversity Conservation and Education Centre, Aranya Forest, Auroville, tree planters from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Puducherry will share their experiences. Mohan Chunkath V., Secretary, Auroville and Chali, Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research (SAIIER), Auroville participated.
Tree planters from the southern States have organised a network to motivate and strengthen their tree planting activities, be it through exchange of indigenous tree species saplings, manpower and other voluntary services. Every year, government or non government agencies host the programmes with special activities in connection with the aim of the team. This meet was organised in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for the last three years.
