It is an innovative venture by a local panchayat in Kannur to create awareness on the diverse flora and fauna in the region among the public, especially the new generation.
The Chapparappadavu grama panchayat has utilised ₹30 lakh for setting up the biodiversity art gallery to promote the conservation of the diversity of plants and animals in the panchayat, listed and described in a detailed people's biodiversity register prepared by the local body a few years ago.
The panchayat is not new to conservation initiative. In the latter part of the 1990s, the panchayat set a model by preparing a people’s biodiversity register with public participation. The gallery is now projected as yet another step in its efforts to promote biodiversity conservation.
The gallery, on the top-floor of the two-storey panchayat building, has panels with illustration and photos of the flora and fauna of the region with detailed descriptions. Panchayat authorities say a major highlight of the gallery is the display of the panchayat’s detailed biodiversity register prepared as a joint effort of the panchayat, the Kerala Institute of Local Administration and the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB). The gallery also displays traditional agricultural implements, measuring vessels and tools that were once very common in the agrarian rural life of the region.
“The panchayat’s objective is to inculcate knowledge of the biological diversity in the panchayat and the region among the younger generation,” said panchayat president P.J. Mathew. The gallery has drawn good response from the public and people continue to visit it, he added.
Workshop held
At a recent workshop organised by the KSBB, panchayat representatives presented the setting up of the gallery as a major initiative for enhancing awareness about the biodiversity among the people. Though the idea of the gallery was born out of the panchayat’s detailed biodiversity register, the aim is to be expand it over a period of time.
“We have many plans in the pipeline for developing the gallery,” said P.K. Sathyan, panchayat standing committee chairman, who has been involved in its setting up. The gallery is the continuation of the panchayat’s pioneering efforts to list and preserve its biodiversity, he noted.
