Amongst many schools the Raja School of Matriculation participated in the first of its kind nature awareness programme conducted by the team at QUEST on one of the beautiful beaches in Ramanad district. The programme was thought to be great success as the students of 10th & 11th Std spent time watching environment awareness videos and being part of an interactive session understanding their surrounding. The team carried out the happenings of the day that started with addressing the students at school, creating awareness on plastic pollution and ill effects on bird & marine life. The possibilities of environmental friendly sports tourism in the region which could be a boon to the local environment.
The team also initiated 'The Seaweed Experiment', with some help from the experts in marine life. Seaweed known to have abundant minerals work as good manure for plants & trees. Students were requested to collect seaweed to test the same, they were also requested to collect plastic from the beach to understand the type of objects that wash up our shores. A visit to the Swami Vivekanada Memorial hall and the Marine life museum only added to the day.
We thank and wish Raja school, other schools and their students a bright future all the best for its future endeavours and can only hope to have many young nature enthusiasts.
AWARENESS IS KEY
The predominant cause of littering in this region is lack of Awareness. Mainly of the negative effects of Plastics. Historically the region is not used to plastic packaging or replacement of organic tools by plastic tools.
Plastic bags do not come with a warning “does not decompose”. Through this exercise we attempted to create awareness of how plastics accumulate and create pollution that destroys marine biodiversity. 90% of the plastics collected in sacks was fishing net & tow ropes used by the fishing community (plastic ropes were a replacement tool to jute ropes). In a period of 1 hour 25 students managed to collect 6 jute sacks full of plastic ropes. Slippers & Shoe soles also contributed to a large contributor to the non decomposing rubbish on the beach. 5 Jute sacks of dead sea weed were put into a composting for manure experiment later in the week.
Awareness is key, finding measures to create awareness about the nature of materials used in daily sustenance. Looking at the triple bottom line of Sustainability, Economic Sustainability requires attention first. The beautiful reefs & beaches in this region have been prey to over fishing, coral harvesting & stray nets causing death to Marine life (mainly turtles). Introducing alternative income & alternative vocation for the fishing community can reduce the immediate impact on the local environment.
Since the first program on the 23rd of July 2013 the team has initiated a number of beach cleanups pan India in co-ordination with various organisations volunteers & the government initiatives. The effort is continuous & constant.
In an effort to replenish fish stocks for subsistence fisherfolk, we have started a marine restoration program; through the installation of artificial reefs. The reef structures provide an ideal substrate for the recruitment and growth of coral polyps. In order to understand the ecological effectiveness of artificial reef systems within the local ecosystem, we conduct rigorous biodiversity monitoring at the reef installations.