From Adversity and despair, to conservation and hope

Around the world, people are discovering the importance of preserving their natural environment. Southern India for one, has been adopting more conservationist ideals of late. Specifically, the Tamil Nadu region of Southern India has stepped up its environmental efforts since the devastating tsunami of December 2004. The amount of destruction caused by the tsunami has left millions of people, many of whom are enduring the troubling effects of poverty, in a worsened state of despair. Citizens of Tamil Nadu have started to overcome this calamity as conservation and ecological initiatives have become more commonplace.

M.S. Swaminathan, UNECSO’s chair in eco-technology, has drawn great attention to agro-biodiversity and bio-shields as a way to protect the coastal areas of Southern India from future storms, and more importantly to ameliorate the lives of farmers and community residents socially and economically. Much attention has been given to the significance of the Mangrove forests in the Tamil Nadu region. The eco-technology wing of UNESCO is currently fostering awareness by speaking about the importance of these forests as effective bio-shields against storms and tsunamis. Farmers are beginning to understand effective ways to achieve agro-biodiversity conservation.

UNESCO has emphasized the need to preserve the Mangrove forests. In essence, the Mangrove forests are highly dense and can act as a barrier to a fury of water. The forests reduce coastal erosion and mitigate the adverse impact of storms, cyclones and tsunamis in coastal areas. Throughout the tsunami of 2004, the villages that possessed thick mangrove forests were saved from the fury of the tsunami because of the speed-breaker role played by the mangroves. By contrast, communities that clear-cut the mangroves for fuel wood and aquaculture ponds, suffered great adversity and debilitation because the community was more exposed to the floods.

The people of Tamil Nadu have become more concerned about their livelihoods because they are dependent on the coastal areas and forestry for resources for economic interest and for subsistence agriculture. As a result of this sudden realization, mangroves are now being conserved. This in turn can very well serve as a protective tool in the event of drastic sea-level rises.

In light of this awakened optimism, farmers have become more conscious and more adamant to maintain ‘on farm conservation’. The ecological disaster caused by the tsunami has suddenly switched gears into an economic opportunity as farmers are more empowered and willing to take on a conservation movement, in spite of pervasive poverty along the Tamil Nadu region. The Chair of the eco-technology wing emphatically stated that “Preaching does not help. Enlightened self-interest, however, motivates people and leads to harmony with nature”.

Farming and fishing communities have collectively fostered an entire conservation movement that has inspired a whole community to take action and treat nature as a precious entity. The future looks promising for farmers and the people of Tamil Nadu. The lingering effects of poverty are slowly being minimized by enlightened self-interest for conservation farming and for a future with more hope.