By IUCN CEM member on 12 December 2019.
International Mountain Day was observed by the students of Government Tribal Residential School at Manalodai in Kanyakumari forest at the foothills of the Western Ghats at Tamil Nadu, India on December 11, 2019.
Addressing the students Mr S. Davidson Sargunam, the environmental educator and IUCN CEM member said that mountain ecosystem forms a vital lifeline in nature. Mountains provide water, food, fuel energy and fodder and recreation facilities. The Western Ghats stretches from Gujarat to Kanyakumari, which is a rich repository of biodiversity, and it is the bounden duty of every citizen to protect the Ghats.
He said that the verdant and virgin forests of Kanyakumari are hilly forests that inhabit a wide range of wild animals. Elephants, Tigers, Leopards, Indian Gaur, Sloth Bear and Sambar, Porcupine, Indian monitor lizard, Wild Hare, Barking Deer are quite common. Also, many varieties of snakes like Cobra, King cobra and Vipers, more than 60 species of birds and more than 8oo species of life-saving herbs are found in these pristine forests.
Over the years, these mountain ecosystems are subjected to anthropogenic pressure. Activities which destruct the forests leading to desertification, monoculture plantations, rock and sand mining, invasive alien species, unchecked eco-tourism, are causing severe threats.
The changing climate has its negative repercussions on the mountain ecosystem as a check on the breeding pattern of wild honey bees and butterflies, growth pattern of mushrooms, ferns, orchids, Begonia etc. Honey bees and butterflies record a decreasing population in recent years. Some of the wild species of animals as Flying lizard, Flying squirrel and Mouse Deer are pushed to the verge of extinction.
He added as solutions, humans should try to live in consonance with nature, without exploiting mountain resources, sustainable dependence on mountains, greening the earth and refrain from causing destruction to mountain ecosystem. Instead of using forest trees for fuel, people should recourse to alternative forms of energy.