Sahyadri Samvada by SARA Centre
About
Sahyadri or the Western Ghats, is a biodiversity hotspot. One of the hottest biodiversity hotspots. It is also accorded the title of being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for housing some of the best representation of tropical evergreen forests of non-equatorial region.
It means, with favourable weather patterns, this region is home to a large diversity of endemic and globally threatened species of plants, mammals, amphibians, birds, insects, reptiles and fishes. But, the compulsiveness of a non-localised and non-inclusive development model has been causing a global shift in climate, and the Sahyadris are no exception.
The hydropower projects, the linear infrastructure projects, indiscriminate agricultural practices, Deforestation, the monoculture acacia, eucalyptus and rubber plantations and such changes in land use patterns in the Sahyadris are presenting endangering threats to the survival and sustainability of 250 million people of peninsular India.
SARA Centre imagines a multi-pronged and multi-stakeholder approach to environmental education and awakening. A method SARA has employed in the past and has been successful in engaging a great number of stakeholders around the imagination of Sahyadris and the wider environment. This year, it is planned to spread across the geography of Shivamogga district in three taluks of Sagara, Hosanagara and Thirthahalli.