Deccan Herald Report

Status of natural resources: IISc, students on a mission

By Subhash Chandra NS, DH News Service, Bangalore:

Knowing the status of natural resources is necessary, given the amount of pressure on them. Considering this, the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST), IISc has embarked upon a socio- scientific project, involving students, at the village level...

Students of the Sahyadri Science College (SSC), Shimoga, are on a unique task as they go around Shinduvadi village, studying the various aspects of the village ecosystem and life. They have been trained by experts from IISc to take up a study monitoring the local resources in this tiny Malnad village neighbouring the Shettihalli bird sanctuary.

The study is part of a project by CST to monitor the natural resources at the village level, in order to assist village communities to decide on their use and management. It also aims to help design strategies and policies to conserve them, and help the concerned departments promote sustainable practices. “We understand that an awareness programme is necessary for this, and the student community plays a pivotal role here,” saysRakesh Tiwari, the CST researcher who initiated the project along with Indu K Murthy .

The project, under the guidance of CST Chairman Professor N H Ravindranath, was started in 2007 in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Four villages were identified in the State: Sirsimakki and Lukkeri in Uttara Kannada, Ungra in Tumkur District and Shinduvadi in Shimoga district.

Monitoring

The CST then thought of having a constant monitoring process at Shinduvadi - which is a crucial village - by involving students, on a experimental basis, for the first time in the Country. “We were lucky to have students from SSC, the institute which had to some extent been involved in some kind of studies. Along with their professor Dr B C Patil, we trained the students for couple of weeks in use of GPS, field planning, visits and identification of flora and fauna,” explained Tiwari.

The study also included the land use pattern,cropping pattern, grazing pattern and dung production. Forest cover,soil pattern, village ecosystem, rainfall and pattern, energy, source of energy and utility, study of flora and fauna, documenting of rare practices are part of this studies. Collection of soil samples and analysing them at the laboratory was also taught to them.