Thaindian News

Thiruvananthapuram, April 27 (IANS) As a first step in setting up biodiversity clubs in all educational institutions in Kerala, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Friday released the club logo.

This new initiative has been launched by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) and initially, this would be launched in all colleges in the state.

“One of the major initiatives of this scheme is to establish ‘Shantisthal’, a man-made forest ecosystem in the educational institutions. Under this initiative, at least a minimum of 10-20 cents (100 cents equals 1 acre) would be available to the club to plant trees which come under the category of rare, endangered and threatened species and in due course, the plot of land will become almost like a forest,” said KSBB member secretary K.P. Laladhas.

The main objectives of establishing the biodiversity clubs include assessing the local biodiversity besides conducting awareness programmes on environment and biodiversity conservation.

Each club would be headed by the Principal besides four teachers and students. Each club would have a minimum of 50 members.

Incidentally, Kerala is home to nearly 1,00,35 plant species (22 percent of national plant diversity) and out of the 4,600 flowering plants found in Kerala 1,500 are endemic.