DIGITAL GARDEN

DC Volunteers in association with the Social Forestry wing of Kerala Forest and WildlifeDepartment, observed World Environment Day in 2020 by planting tree saplings in the District Collectorate compound. District Collectorate compound is a home to diverse numbers of birds, butterflies, odonates and including small mammals such as the Indian Mongoose and Flying Foxes. Since the Collectorate is a public service office where a large number of people visit daily, the idea of interdependence between humans and these biodiversity can be well conveyed to the public. Keeping this motive, initially the tree species of the compound were identified. A database was created for the trees in the name “DIGITAL GARDEN : COLLECTORATE, PATHANAMTHITTA”. The database contains all the necessary information about the tree species and QR codes linked to this database were generated for individual tree species. These QR Codes were placed on the trees in the compound. The Digital Garden project was inaugurated on June 5, 2020 by the Smt. Veena George,MLA and District Collector Sri. PB Nooh IAS. The project idea and identification of the trees was done by Siyad A Karim of DC Volunteers, who has expertise in the field of biodiversity. The program was funded and conducted with the help of NSS Passion Followers (NPF).

Setting up a digital garden was very helpful in disseminating all relevant information about the tree species including its ecological significance by simply scanning the QR Code. This project is a model that shows how technology can be used innovatively, helping in creating awareness on biodiversity conservation among the public more effectively than using the traditional methods. Further this project was adopted by Kerala Forest Department by the request of the Assistant Conservator of Forests – social forestry division, for their Vidyavanam project, which is a pilot project of the department for creating micro forests inside school premises through high density high biodiversity planting of native species. This was done on a large scale at Adoor Government Boys HSS, Pathanamthitta. This work got appreciation from the Hon’ble Minister of Forest and Wildlife who inaugurated the programme and from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Head of Forest Force. This project is now implemented statewide and the database is widely used in the Vidyavanam Project, Nagaravanam project and Miyawaki Forests under the Kerala Forest Department throughout Kerala.