Environment

Ecology & Environment:

SAWED believes that one ecosystem is one planet. Humans as well as every other organism are dependent on their environment. Every living and non-living components of an ecosystem from plants to microbes to man is linked together in a complicated web. Their interdependence results in their proliferation and even on their survival. Any change in their environment, even in distant parts of the planet affects living things and their environment elsewhere. Ecosystem along with its biotic and abiotic components is an integral part of this environment.

Environment has now become a concern worldwide. The 1960 publication ‘Silent Spring’ by Rachel Carson was the milestone of this social movement for the welfare of environment. An ever expanding population, warning level of pollution, massive land degradation, large scale deforestation and a number of other anthropogenic causes lead to an overall degradation of environment. A prime concern of SAWED is to conserve the environment we survive in.

Forest Ecology, Restoration & Conservation:

Human history is based on clearance of forest. About 200 square kilometer of forest is being lost every day in the present world (FAO 2006). Deforestation rates are highest in tropical developing countries which also includes India. Human induced land use change and degradation of forest is rapidly leading us towards a world devoid of forest covers. Destruction of forest means damaging the entire ecosystem and loss of all valuable natural resources, be it land, air, water or biodiversity. Ecological restoration is “the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed” (Society for Ecological Restoration Science and Policy Working Group, 2004).

In its longstanding efforts, SAWED has able to create a footprint in restoration and conservation of forest ecology. SAWED holds the hands of forest communities in Sirumalai hills & Lower Palani hills for a sustainable conservation practice.

Wildlife Protection:

Wildlife is the most ignored and most vulnerable among all living resources in the world. Everyday 12 species are getting extinct worldwide and we are being left with increasingly fewer wild lives for the future generation to witness!

India has a wide range of biodiversity due to its geographical distribution – an overwhelming 2,50,000 species. The Deserts, the Alpines, Bhavar and Terrai Grasslands, the Alluvial Plains of Ganges, the Plateau regions, the Western Ghats and the long coastlines are rich in flora and fauna. An ever expanding human population, rapid urbanization and industrialisation, pollution and climate change leads to habitat loss, food shortage and a number of other consequences forcing the wildlife towards nonexistence. Species or habitat conservation is the immediate necessity to maintain environmental balance. Wildlife protection has been a major focus of SAWED since its inception and provide awareness education to school children, farming communities, tribals and general public in Sirumalai hills & Lower Palani hills.

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