Kochi: Even as the government is on a mission to rebuild Kerala, the focus should be on restoring the fast-disappearing forests, paddy fields, wetlands and water bodies to prevent extreme natural calamities in the future, according to experts. They were attending a seminar on ‘post-flood Kerala’ organised by the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishat at the KSSP office in Thrissur on Sunday.
“Afforestation and restoration of lost wetlands and water bodies are equally or more important than rebuilding houses and buildings,” they said.
“When debates are being held on ‘rebuild Kerala,’ immediate intervention is required to restore the changed geographical features of Kerala. The geography of the state, when it was formed, has been completely altered. The state has lost more than seven lakh hectares of paddy fields while the forest cover decreased from 36 per cent of the total area of the state to four per cent,” said Mr G. Madhusood-anan, environmental scientist and writer.
The area of paddy cultivation has declined from 8.8 lakh hectares to 1.9 lakh hectares through which over 78 per cent of paddy cultivation areas was lost.
The once water-rich rivers have shrunk as the depleting forest cover is unable to sustain the water network of rivers.
He stressed the need for an immediate and effective programme to protect the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats and sustain the gradually vanishing rivers, backwaters and other water bodies.
Restoration of natural resources should be based on the digital map of flood-affected areas, it was pointed out. Climate scientist Dr. B Chakrapani, Dr. M.P. Parameswaran, Prof. K.R Janardanan, KSSP state president T. Gangadharan, general secretary Y.K. Me-era Bhai and district secretary T. Sathianarayanan also spoke.
