Page 31 - Kerala calling OCTOBER 2020

Elephant Safari, Konni
complex and the section of the old for the benefit of non-tribal options can be generated for
museum will be inaugurated soon. communities living in the deep the local people through the
interior of forests. In the first phase, better management of this area.
Restoration of 108 families from the colonies of Hence the government proposes
natural forests Channamala, Mathrakarikkakom, to declare the ‘Gandhi Smrithi
The ambitious project of Vattakarikkakom in Vanam’ as a reserve.
transforming plantations into Thiruvanathapuram district will be
natural forests assume greater resettled. Declaration of
dimension in the backdrop of Peringad Reserve
the natural disasters that have Gandhi Smrithi The Kole wetlands that sprawl
ravaged the State in the past three Vanam 13,600 hectares in Thrissur and
years. Kerala, undoubtedly, has Purakkad village, with its rich Malappuram districts hold a
emerged as the first in the country share of 600 acres of wetland, predominant place in the landscape
to undertake the job of converting blessed with Kerala’s indigenous of Kerala. The authorities are
man-made plantations into natural biodiversity, has played a vital role exploring the options of converting
forests on a massive scale. in improving the ecological balance the area comprising Peringad river
of the State, and Alappuzha district and the adjoining wetlands into
Voluntary Relocation in particular. Peringad Reserve with options for
Project improving the livelihoods of local
The forest department mooted The region is closely interwoven people.
the ‘Voluntary Relocation project’ with the lives of diverse segments
of people. A lot of livelihood
prd.kerala.gov.in/publication/keralacalling/OCTOBER 2020 31 KERALA CALLING