5 SAVE WESTERN GHATS AND KANYAKUMARI MARCH
Western Ghat is a chain of ancient mountains parallel to the west coast of the Indian Peninsula from Maharashtra to Kerala; it occupies about 99,300 sq km2 and is one of the world’s 25 well-known terrestrial biodiversity hot spots. With an objective of awakening the people against the destructive use of forest biodiversity resources, emphasizing the peoples’ rights on them and development of degraded lands, SPS used several jathas and campaign modes. A unique ecological ‘Save Western Ghat March’ (SWGM) from Navapur (Dhulia District in Maharashtra) to Goa, and Kanyakumari to Goa was organized by 150 organizations between 1 November 1987 to 3 January 1988; as the official co-coordinating agency at Karnataka state level SPS played a central role
in the design and institutionalizing the jatha. The sole purpose of the march was to create awareness and concern among the people of all walks about the need to save the ecology of western ghats. With the active participation of member organizations of FEVORD-K, Karnataka Rajya Vijnana Parishad, and CES, Bangalore, SPS was successful in involving a large number of people, including the rural poor in the march. The march helped create an awareness regarding people’s participation in the management of natural resources. This unique ecological event along with Kusnur Satyagraha, were hailed as two of the ten major
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