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Green IT generates interest
Frederick Noronha
IT doesn’t remain just IT when other
professionals realise how this technology could be useful to their
work. This happened recently, when the announcement of two interesting
CDs drew the attention of agri-professionals across the handful
of mailing lists that knit them together.
The release of the CDs led to quite some
interest. One CD is an extensive database of plant species found
in the state of Karnataka. Said environmental magazine Down To Earth:
“This is the first time that such information has been compiled
from various government and non-government sources and put together
in a searchable and user-friendly format for students, researchers
and botanists.”
It offers a district- and taluka-wise break-up
of flora details. These are presented through land-use maps of agro-climatic
zones, major and minor towns, rivers, water bodies and vegetation.
A total of 4,935 plant species found in
the state are recorded. According to the database, Hassan district
is the richest in terms of flora resources, with 4,561 species recorded.
In addition, for those not familiar with
the scientific names, about 6,000 commonly used names of various
plant species are arranged alphabetically in 31 Indian languages
for the viewer to search through.
“This CD-ROM will be of great help
to both academics and policy-planners and it fills a gap in digital
resources on plant species in India. One can now look forward to
similar databases on the flora, and perhaps even fauna, of other
states in the country,” commented the environmental fortnightly
published from New Delhi.
More recently, the University of Agricultural
Sciences in Bangalore also added on one more CD on the Plants of
the Western Ghats. Also known as the Sahyadris, this mountain range
has an average height of 1200 metres. It runs about 1600 km long
and continues parallel to the western border of the Deccan Plateau,
from the mouth of the river Tapti to Kanyakumari, the southernmost
point of India. The Western Ghats overlook the Arabian Sea, and
bear the full force of the monsoon winds, thus precipitating heavy
rains on the west coast. This region is considered to be ecologically
sensitive, and also rich in biodiversity.
Each of these CDs is priced at Rs 500. More details on how to obtain
copies are available from K N Ganeshaiah at www.atree.org/kng.htm
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