Aimed at transforming river conservation initiatives into a national movement, the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, in association with the Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research, has launched a citizen science initiative for river conservation. The programme seeks to train people in assessing the health of a river using its biological indicators.
As many as 40 people in two groups including students, scientists and conservationists from 12 States have signed up for the first phase of training, which seeks to empower the local community in protecting their rivers. The five-day initiative, which also involved a field expedition along the Pampa river basin, drew to a close on April 22. The sessions were led by eminent scientists and conservationists including Jayanta Bandopadhyay, T.V. Ramachandra, Ajay Kumar Varma, and Archana Godbole, among others.
Commenting on the initiative, N. Anil Kumar, Senior Director of MSSRF, said the project sought to take river conservation beyond just the physio-chemical aspects and develop a science-based river management system. “The approach is uniquely styled to focus on the various aspects of river health such as catchment area, flood lines, riparian vegetation, river biodiversity etc. Hence the extent of vulnerability can be easily pinpointed’‘, he explained.
Giving people a voice
The trained volunteers, according to him, will sign up more people, who will continuously contribute to the inputs required for monitoring the invisible damage being done to rivers. “More than the data itself, part of the appeal is in changing the way the population at large interacts with science more generally. And the approach does not just let people collect data, it empowers them and gives them a voice,’‘ added Mr. Anil Kumar.
The programme is soon slated to be followed up with a similar workshop, to be held along the Kabani river banks in Wayanad and the implementation of a river conservation project in Rajasthan.
