Kerala - Kozhikode   

Eco-activists to meet in Kozhikode today

By Our Staff Reporter

KOZHIKODE, FEB. 4. A meeting of environmentalists in the State will be held at Town Hall here on February 5.

Environmentalist and Chipko movement leader Sunderlal Bahuguna will participate in the meeting, which is being held to discuss the alleged degradation of forests and rivers.

The programme is being conducted under the aegis of Wayanad Prakriti Samrakshana Samithi and Malabar Natural History Society.

Representatives of environmental groups such as Society for Environment Education Kerala (SEEK), Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP), Thanal, Neithal and Chalakkudipuzha Samrakshana Samithi will participate in the discussions.

The meeting is being held in the wake of alleged attempts to pledge the natural resources of the State in the guise of development, the organisers said.

Amendment of laws

It was alleged that the environmental laws, which, to a certain extent had protected the rivers and forests, are being amended. This will prove to be detrimental to conservation. New projects, including the Silent Valley project that had been shelved, are on the anvil.

Conservation of mangrove forests to help ward off sea erosions will be given priority. The meeting will deliberate on the negative impact brought about by the delisting of bamboo as a forest produce. The delisting measure will affect the livelihood of hundreds of adivasis.

Some of the topics to be presented at the meeting are `Degradation of Kerala forests and forest fires' (P.K. Uthaman), `Express Highway (R.V.G. Menon), `The destruction of hills' (T.P. Padmanabhan), `Pathrakkadavu and hydel power projects in Kerala' (Lata Unnikrishnan).

The other issues being discussed at the meeting include `Coastal ecology' (S. Anita), `Industrial pollution' (Johnson Angamali), `Central and State forest laws' (L. Namasivayam), `Mangrove forests and coastal laws' (Jaffer Pallot), `Environmental problems of Wayanad' (N. Badusha), `Endosulfan' (P.V. Sudheer Kumar) and `Pesticides and environment' (S. Usha).

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