CHENNAI: At a time when various cities across the world are pitching in to register their anger against climate change during the global climate change strike week, Chennai is doing its bit as well to support the cause.
For this purpose, multiple environmental groups in the city have come together to organise a rally on Sunday morning at Elliots Beach in Besant Nagar. Under the topic, 'Save Chennai Wetlands', organisers are expecting around 1,000 people to join the rally on Sunday between 6.30 am-8.30 am.
Six groups including Vettiver Collective and Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG) are the main organisers behind the events that have been going on in the city since Friday.
Scores of school, college students, and young adults held placards and even wrote a letter addressed to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy urging the state government to save the city's wetlands. On Saturday, as part of an awareness campaign, around 40 people were taken to the Ennore-Pulicat wetlands to highlight the threat it's facing from urbanisation and industries.
"We chose this particular topic as Chennai's vast wetlands are rapidly dying. We wanted the current generation to know the reason behind the city's prolonged water crisis and ways to save these spaces. Wetlands are very important to our ecosystem as it stands as a natural buffer to natural calamities," said Pooja Kumar, a volunteer from Vettiver Collective.
She added that Ennore was chosen particularly for the exposure tour as it is formed from the Araniyar-Kosasthalayar Basin which is fast dying due to seawater intrusion caused by encroachments.