Students interacting with Mr TP Padmanabhan during the session at the Mangrove Interpretation Centre
Kunhimangalam, Kerala, February 6, 2017: A one-day mangrove awareness camp was organised for schoolchildren on February 2, celebrated as World Wetlands Day to mark the signing of the Ramsar Convention on wetlands in 1971, at the WTI-Apollo Tyres Kannur Kandal (Mangrove Conservation) Project site in Kunhimangalam.
A select group of 40 students from the upper primary levels of various schools in Kerala’s Kannur district attended the event, which included a class held at the project’s Mangrove Interpretation Centre by eminent conservationist Mr TP Padmanabhan and WTI field officer Mr Ramith M. The students were given an introduction to World Wetlands Day and its relevance to mangrove conservation, followed by a detailed session on the mangrove ecosystem.
In order to provide the students a first-hand experience of the diversity of mangroves and their associated fauna and flora, naturalists Mr VC Balakrishnan, Mrs Susmitha and Mr Kunhiraman then led them on a field trip into neighbouring mangrove areas that have been secured under the Kannur Kandal project.
Students trek through the mangroves secured by WTI under the Kannur Kandal Project
