Kochi: A series of programmes are being organised on Saturday, Sunday and Monday at Maharajas College, Ernakulam and YMCA, Aluva to mark the 30th anniversary of the Save Western Ghats Movement. Former Union minister Jairam Ramesh will inaugurate the anniversary celebrations on Saturday at Maharajas College while green activist Medha Patkar will launch the international campaign for conservation of the Western Ghats.
Environmental experts and green activists from across the country are attending the programme which will have a seminar on ‘Western Ghats – biodiversity, climate change, development’. Dr. V.S Vijayan will inaugurate the seminar.
Save Western Ghats March held in 1987 and 88, is considered as one of the landmark events in environmental activism in the country and has become the model for numerous similar campaigns.
Western Ghats, the drinking water source of one fifth of the population in the country, is facing extinction due to deforestation and quarrying. As many as three lakh hectares of forest areas have been destroyed in the last 40 years in the Western Ghats, which is one of the five most sensitive biodiversity hotspots in the world, according to environmental experts. The Ghats ensure the climate, food and water safety of six states in the country.
Though a series of studies were conducted on the need to conserve the Ghats and reports were submitted to the Union and State governments, no steps were taken, said Prof. MK Prasad, chairman of the organising committee. Due to the State government’s apathetic approach, green activists are seeking the support of national and international agencies for the conservation of the Ghats for which an international campaign is being launched.
