150 Mumbai University Colleges Launch Biodiversity Mapping Drive Across Districts | Mumbai News
Mumbai: Around 150 colleges across seven districts and departments affiliated with Mumbai University have launched an extensive biodiversity survey. The mapping initiative started within their own campuses and will later extend to their neighbourhoods. The data collected will be used to create a community-driven biodiversity register for Mumbai and other districts and can provide various municipal authorities with real-time information.Besides simply counting the numbers of trees, the students will document detailed information on local flora, including their classification as herbs, shrubs, plants or trees, whether the species are rare or common, their height, habitat and also their overall health. More than 800 students are already trained under the programme, supported by the British Council under its Climate Skills programme, and the HSBC.
The programme is being carried out under the guidance of Mumbai University Vice-Chancellor Ravindra Kulkarni and led by professor Aparna Phadke and co-facilitated by Indu George and Suhas Jejurikar with 21 master facilitators for the smooth implementation of the project. Under the programme, along with the 800 students, over 200 faculty members and representatives from 16 NGOs across seven districts are already trained by the university.Phadke told TOI that the selected students would be teamed up with local self-governments, NGOs and other stakeholders to initiate climate action in their geographical areas. The social actions can culminate into the creation and update of the public biodiversity register too, she said. “There are several projects being undertaken under this partnership and biodiversity mapping is one of them. A questionnaire seeking details on the flora was shared with all the participating students,” said Phadke. The questionnaire seeks information on the local and scientific names of the flora, its type, its habitat (whether fresh water, mangroves, saline, terrestrial or any other), its occurrence, if it is common or rare or very rare. The researchers have also sought details on whether the flora has any local deity importance, or if it is sacred or heritage, along with the tree’s health (good, bad, moderate or infested with pests and fungi) and whether the tree’s origin is native, exotic or invasive.Phadke said that the tree census is not done comprehensively and therefore, such information can help build databases for the local municipal authorities too. “With colleges spread across the city, this mapping exercise can help us to know the entire city’s profile with adequate information on rare and endangered species too,” she added. The British Council programme aims to address various challenges faced by India concerning climate change vulnerabilities by engaging higher education institutions. Mumbai University is one of the three HEIs which were selected as partners.
