Chennai: College students, environmental conservation enthusiasts and the general public spent a productive forenoon learning about wetlands and their importance at Adyar Tholkappia Poonga, during the ‘appreciation walk’ organized by MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) on Monday.The two-hour walk to commemorate World Wetlands Day covered the entire eco-park, with interactive activities such as quiz contests, lectures, photo sessions and a bingo game. For students, it was a learning experience like none other. “I learnt about the Ramsar Convention and the number of Ramsar sites in Tamil Nadu,” said K Srinath, a student of MSc in Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology. “We saw how breathing roots work and what supports them, a concept we only read about in books,” he added.MSSRF director Soumya Swaminathan kicked off the tour, and spoke about the importance of wetlands—from their role as flood buffers to ecosystems that support of livelihoods.The goal is to sensitize people to the necessity of wetlands in an engaging way, MSSRF director for wetlands Rupesh K Bhomia told TOI. “Owing to rapid urbanization and public negligence, there is always a need to preserve wetlands. We plan to conduct more such tours at other wetland locations too,” he added. A different nature walk, followed by a clean-up drive, was conducted at the Adyar Estuary by the Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission in coordination with the Chennai Forest Division and the SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Ramapuram.
