One crore saplings to be planted

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State is preparing to launch a campaign involving all citizens to plant one crore tree saplings all over the State this year and nurture them into shade trees, Forest Minister Benoy Viswom said here on Monday. The campaign will be called 'Haritha Keralam' and it will be launched on June 5, World Environment Day, Mr. Viswom said while inaugurating a national workshop on 'Global warming and implications for Kerala,' organised by the Kerala Forest Department. Scientists, naturalists and policy makers from all over the country are participating in this workshop that will conclude on Wednesday. Seeing globally and acting locally had been the philosophy of the State in the face of the threat of global warming, Mr. Viswom said. 'Tree is the answer' would be the slogan of the 'Haritha Keralam' programme. The campaign-mode programme would have local bodies as key players. Over the past eighteen months, the State had implemented three programmes and planted over 50 lakh saplings involving students and the fishermen community. The experience gained from these programmes would form the foundation of the 'Haritha Keralam' campaign, Mr. Viswom said. State Planning Board Vice-Chairman Prabhat Patnaik, who delivered the keynote address, said only lifestyle changes the world over could ward off the threat of global warming. Nature was being perceived as an entity for profitable exploitation, Dr. Patnaik said. The State should, at this juncture, be particularly worried about the decreasing trend in world cereal output, for which global warming too was a reason, he added. As a State deficient in food production, Kerala could land in trouble in the near future if it did not rework its strategies. The State needed to go back to paddy to get back on the safe rails after the shift to cash crops over the last three-four decades. The Centre could not be depended upon to supply Kerala its cereal requirement. This had already become evident, he said. V. Sivankutty, MLA, presided. Poet O.N.V. Kurup spoke, besides reciting his poem 'Bhoomikku Oru Charamageetham.'

The Hindu, 20th January 2009