A team of enthusiastic environmentalists has been reaching out to students on various issues connected to climate change in the Malnad region. In the last four months, under the banner of the Biodiversity, Environment and Agriculture Study Centre (BEAS), young environmentalist Nagaraj Koove and his friends have conducted 100 programmes, reaching over 8,000 students.
The organisation covered schools and colleges spread over nine taluks—Koppa, N.R. Pura, Mudigere, Chikkamagaluru, Sringeri, Thirthahalli, Belthangadi, and Karkala—in four districts: Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, Dakshina Kannada, and Udupi. The objective was to make the students understand the impact of climate change on the biodiversity of the western ghats and the agriculture practices.
“We, the organisers felt the need to spread the message about the impacts of climate change. The programme was designed such that the students get time to interact with resource persons rather than listening to lectures”, said Nagaraj Koove, a post-graduate in Mathematics, and one of the founders of BEAS. He is also the coordinator of the Climate Change and Youth Programme of the organisation. Other activists include Manu Jogilbyl, Gurumurthy Jogilbyl, Aathish Sringeri, Praveen Kalasa, Radhika, Pallavi, and Bhagya. They are all residents of the Malnad region, primarily engaged in agriculture activities.
