R. Mohammed Saleem has always had a penchant for the wild. As a college student, he made regular weekend trips to nearby forests with his friends and photographed the birds and other wildlife he spotted there. These trips initially served as a good de-stresser and allowed him to be one with nature.
“I was a member of the Eco Club at R.V.S College in Sulur and went onto become its Secretary in my second year of college in 1990. The next year I was the President and worked in conjunction with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on a few projects,” Saleem recalls.
With his passion for the environment growing, Saleem started the Environment Conservation Group (ECG) in September 2009. Fifteen like-minded friends from the telecom industry joined him as trustees. Four years on, Sanctuary Asia, India’s leading wildlife and conservation magazine has selected him as one of 10 tiger defenders in the country.
After completing his graduation in Computer Science, Saleem took charge of an internet, fax and e-mail centre at Trichy Road. It was the first in the city to have e-mail, teleconferencing and videoconferencing facilities in the early 90s. He then went onto work as an associate for a telecom firm in 2002, where he handled the operations of two branches in the city. The little spare time he would get was spent making trips to the forests and jungles.
After seven years of working in a corporate environment, Saleem decided to follow his heart and get into environment conservation full-time.
ECG has grown steadily since it’s inception with over a 100 members and several volunteers. It also has an avian wing, the Coimbatore Birding Club (CBC) which was founded in 2010 for the conservation of birds and their natural habitats.
People go on birding walks to nearby lakes on weekends, and there are at least 15 people from various walks of life getting together with binoculars and cameras in the wee hours of Sunday mornings.
The group’s Facebook page has more than 1,500 members, who regularly post pictures of the exotic birds they have spotted, besides participating in the bird walks.
ECG is currently involved in a ‘Kids for Tigers’ campaign through which five tiger ambassadors will be identified from the city, and one will go on a fully sponsored trip to a popular tiger reserve.
Saleem and a core team of seven other conservationists have also been monitoring the tiger population in Kerala’s Silent Valley National Park and have irrefutable proof that the animal is doing well there.
Changing lifestyles
Saleem feels that people have started ignoring the environment due to changing lifestyles. Trees are being cut down to accommodate more buildings and the heat has begun to rise as a result.
“The indiscriminate cutting of trees has also led to the dwindling of birds which nest on those trees. The cutting down of palm trees has led to the significant reduction in the population of the Asian Palm Swift, which nests on the trees,” he says, citing an example.
Coimbatore has reputed green institutes and NGOs which are working for the environment. They should form an Advisory Council which will work towards restoration of some of these trees and birds and take up other environmental concerns with the Government,” he suggests.
On its part, the ECG, working in tandem with CII, the Tamil Nadu Forest Department and the Highways Department has started planting saplings on Avanashi Road to restore the green cover there.
He Saleem is also trying to impress upon authorities the need to plant native trees as much as possible. “We must restore the ecological balance by planting more native trees which will bring back micro organisms, birds, and in turn bigger animals,” he concludes.
MILESTONES
Mohammed Saleem is one among 10 tiger defenders in the country chosen by Sanctuary Asia.
He discovered 15 new species of birds through the Coimbatore Birding Club in 2012.
He has tied up with 32 schools in the city for the ‘Kids for Tigers’ campaign which will select one tiger ambassador to travel to a popular tiger reserve in the country.
He also works as a consultant for a few institutions and housing colonies and helps them plant native trees.
