Deserts and Arid Ecosystems

Deserts and arid landscapes are fully functional ecosystems in themselves, not needing any kind of artificial reforestation. This is a fact, among many others that the National Forest Policy draft of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change overlooks. Other than proposing to turn 'degraded' land into commercial plantations, the draft inclines towards the privatization of government-owned forest land and shows a preference for commercial monoculture over natural forests, while sidelining the participation of  communities in conservation.

The draft is open for public review on the MoeF website here. I request you all to send in your comments on the draft to digfpolicy-mef@nic.in, jitesh.kumar@nic.in and toforestpolicy@gmail.com  before the 14th of April.

Macha the Fishing Cat - Mascot for Coringa WLS

Meet Macha the Fishing Cat, the official mascot for Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh! ('Macha', Tamil,  means friend or 'bro' in colloquial parlance across Southern India). Coringa is one of India's largest contiguous stretch of mangrove forests and hosts the largest population of Fishing Cats in the country. DFO Mr. Anant Shankar commissioned a mascot design and a series of four posters in which Macha introduces his 'machas', YOU, to Coringa and mangroves. Read on- 

A big thanks to Mr. Shankar and the AP Forest Department for initiating this fun project! The posters are up at the interpretation centre in Coringa.

Macha the Fishing Cat now proudly endorses Coringa to visitors as a life-size sculpture! Thanks to the team of artists who worked on converting my character design into this magnificent sculpture.