Kottayam: Aranyakam Nature Foundation announced the winners of a scientific illustration competition titled 'Flora the passion,' which was held as part of World Environment Day on Saturday. Around 150 people participated in the competition in four different categories.
The first prize winners are:
Senior Drawing Category- Dr. Anoop P Balan, Assistant Professor, Botany, Bishop Abraham Memorial College, Pathanamthitta
Senior Painting Category- KA Resmia, Botany Alumnus of St. Joseph College, Devagiri
Juniors Drawing- VV Drishya, Research scholar, Government Brennan College, Kannur
Junior Painting- KM Adila, Botany Student, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod
Renowned photographer and drawing artist T Santhosh Mithra, Film director and JC Foundation award winner Sudhi Anna, Dr. Janeesha AP ( Kozhikode), Arya Raj A (Thiruvananthapuram,) Anashwara Ramachandran (Kozhikode), Srilaya P (Malappuram), Devalakshmi CS (Trippunithura), Geena Sara Mathew (Changanassery), Krishnanand H (Kottayam), won accolades of the Jury for their exemplary works.
The award-winning illustrations have been posted on the Aranyakam Nature Foundation's official website.
“More than just a competition, such activities are unique as they encourage the people to observe and study the indigenous plants around us, and the environment in which they grow, giving the man an entirely different perspective of the biodiversity and ecosystem,” says one of the organisers.
Moving forward on its mission to create awareness about the importance of reforestation or afforestation, they also conducted a webinar by Dr. Shankar Raman, Senior Scientist of Nature Conservation Foundation in Mysore.
The talk enlightened the need for the right way of approach towards afforestation where it should actually be aimed at reviving the actual forest ecosystem that prevailed in the area and restoring the ecological balance.
The program was presided over by Dr. Easa PS, Chairman of Aranyakam Nature Foundation.