Bengaluru: In a bid to spread awareness to the future policy makers of the country, a group of people ‘Friends of Elephants’, who are keen about wildlife and forest conservation come together at the city with novel ways of communication.
On Sunday the group held a public event at Rangoli Art Centre, MG Road on the topic “Inferno in the Elephant Forests” which dealt with forest fire and the ecosystem in forests where elephants survive in large numbers.
Surendra Varma, who leads the group, believes that empowering stakeholders of the society by passing on knowledge is essential for a better future. “Influencing the thoughts of policy-makers by providing them the right knowledge is something we focus on. Effective opinions take form only when the right information reaches the individual,” Varma said. According to forest expert and geographer Dr Narendra Kodandapani, mapping forest fire to an extent would be one of the ways to predict them. “A study spread over a particular forest for over 15-20 years can equip geographers to map forest fire prone areas,” he said. Rajkumar Devaraje URS, a honorary wildlife warden who has been working tirelessly to educate people on the importance of forest conservation, believes that positive changes at the grass-root level is the need of the hour. “Governments and the officers concerned should think and act practically rather than politicizing everything. A strong force of responsible citizens who are willing to sacrifice lives for a better future is what we should think and act for,” he said. Theatre artiste Prabhakar Rao said, “Understanding the real issue and spreading awareness addressing the audience directly is what we try to do. Picking up the dialect to present a street play is seen most important as it leaves a persisting impact on the people.”
