Kerala is fast moving towards an environmental and biodiversity crisis and it was high time the people united for the conservation of environment and biodiversity, N. Sajeevan, scientist attached to the Kerala Forest Research Institute, has said.

Dr. Sajeevan was addressing a seminar on biodiversity conservation organised by the Aranmula Heritage Village Action Council (AHVAC), at Aranmula on Monday.

Presiding over the seminar, Kummanam Rajashekharan, AHVAC chief patron, said that the popular movement against the proposed private airport at Aranmula was a historic one.

He said the Aranmula agitation was the beginning of the people’s united movement to protect the remaining paddy lands and wetlands in the State, thereby preserving the groundwater.

He said the popular movement in Aranmula, which brought people together for the protection of environment, wetlands, farmlands, conservation of water, and preservation of a rich cultural heritage, was a model to the whole country.

M.N. Jayachandran, president of the Prakriti Samrakshana Vedi and member of the Animal Welfare Board, has called upon the people to protect the biodiversity-rich wetland and paddy lands in Aranmula at any cost.

G. Unnikrishnan, academic and Kottayam Nature Society secretary, stressed the need for conservation, of river Pampa. Thomas P. Thomas, associate professor of Botany at St. Thomas College, Kozhencherry, said those who had violated laws in Aranmula should be brought to book.

A documentary on Aranmula, “Aranmula at the crossroads”, by P.R. Sreekumar, was screened on the occasion. K. Haridas, action council president; N.K. Sukumaran Nair, Pampa Parirkashana Samiti general secretary; P. Induchoodan, P.R. Shaji, and Shaji Chacko, all Aranmula People’s Joint Action Council office-bearers, also spoke.