Mapping Goa’s biodiversity

Once a pristine oasis of greenery, scenic waterfalls and exquisite, bluish coral beaches, “Goa is being swamped by unbridled tourism which is badly affecting our ecosystem, and so we thought of a unique project that will create awareness among the public and visitors about our diverse flora and fauna, and the dire need to save them from extinction,” said Brett Sequeira, past president, Rotaract Club of Panjim, RID 3170.

A brainchild of Rtr Rohitesh Sutar, Project Regenerative Tourism was aimed to promote eco-friendly and sustainable tourism in Goa’s hinterland. “We see tourists litter around the place with liquor bottles, cigarette butts, plastic warts and tetra packs which affects our environment. While efforts are on to protect our beaches, not much is being done to protect our soil and air in the interior villages of Goa bearing the brunt of crass tourism,” he said.

A team of Rotaractors met Goa Tourism director Suneel Anchipaka and its deputy GM Deepak Narvekar to brief them about their plan to go on a nature trail from Tamdi Surla, a scenic hamlet 50km east of Panaji and perched on the Western Ghats. With the aim to document the flora and fauna in the dense forest on the ridges which nestles several tribal hamlets, a group of 20 trekkers consisting of 13 Rotaractors, six photographers and a mapping specialist went on a long and exciting, but arduous journey by walk so “that we could literally feel and enjoy the wide biodiversity of this ecosystem,” recalled Sequeira. “We trekked on steep hills, waded through streams and engaged at least three tribal communities who depend on virgin forests for their living.”

While efforts are on to protect our beaches, not much is being done to protect our soil and air in the interior villages of Goa bearing the brunt of crass tourism.
– Brett Sequeira, past president Rotaract Club of Panjim

After completing their one-day field mapping work on the mountains, that ended at the cave temple in Khandepar village on the banks of Mandovi river in the middle of thick forest, “we returned to Panaji and ran a social media campaign through Instagram from June 5, World Environment Day, through which we reached to over 30,000 people and explained to them about our mapping survey to protect our biodiversity. We also wrote to UNEP about our work to preserve the ecosystem and got the certificate of appreciation from the UN body.”

More than 100 Rotaractors from South East Asia attended a training session on community assessment and project planning hosted by the club in partnership with RSAMDIO. “We had ESRAG directors Meenakshi Venkataraman, Christopher Puttock from the US and its secretary Denize Vural from Turkey interacting with the participants, in a half-day Zoom session. They educated us on how to identify a community project, set goals and achieve them,” said Sequeira.

New Interact club

An Interact club was chartered at the Fairyland High School, Velha, an institute with a mix of normal children and those with learning disabilities. Called the Interact Club of Infinity, “we are holding one-on-one workshops, RYLAs, special trainings and group sessions with the students.” With 62 members from the community made up of college students, doctors, engineers and businessmen, the Panjim club is one of the oldest and prestigious Rotaract clubs in Goa. “Though the club was formed in 1971, we lost our charter after some years, but restarted it in November 1998. Quite a few Rotarians in Goa were Rotaractors from our club,” explained Sequeira (23), who takes care of his family’s real estate business.

The Rotaract club partners with the organisers of the Purple Fest, an annual six-day event for people with disabilities, in Goa. “We helped organise a blind car rally this year where visually-impaired participants guide sighted drivers through the route assigned to them with the help of an instruction sheet in Braille.”

Shortly, the club will be chartering a new satellite Rotary club where “our senior Rotaractors and others will find a right place to carry on their journey in community service, along with fellowship,” he smiles.