Tamil Nadu set to launch website for environmental volunteering

Tamil Nadu government launching website for nature enthusiasts to volunteer in environmental activities like beach clean-ups and turtle conservation.

Nature enthusiasts will soon have the opportunity to volunteer for activities like beach clean-ups, plastic waste disposal, and turtle conservation through a new website to be launched by the Tamil Nadu government.

The new initiative by the departments of Environment, Climate Change and Forest is focused on promoting environmental protection and restoration by engaging school children, college students, and youth in a range of activities including habitat conservation, controlling invasive plants, beach clean-ups, wildlife surveys, plastic waste management, sea turtle conservation, and citizen science initiatives.

At present, the State benefits from a strong network of non-governmental organisations and environmental collectives whose volunteers lead several initiatives with support from government departments.

According to Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary, Departments of Environment, Climate Change and Forests, the website will help newcomers interested in nature conservation. This separate website with the list of activities has been created, and will soon be launched. After registering, volunteers will have to indicate their preferred time to undertake these activities.

As per the announcement from the environment department, volunteers participating in these events will be provided transportation and refreshments. Initially, the scheme will be launched on a pilot basis.

Welcoming the initiative, Arun Krishnamurthy, founder of Environmentalist Foundation of India said that across cities, sometimes, even getting permission to work on a site can get cumbersome, but a dedicated government website can ease this process.