 |
|
Field trip to the Aravalli Biodiversity Park
Today we, the class 9 to 11 from DSND visited the Aravalli Biodiversity Park which is is part of the South-Central Ridge. It is situated near Vasant Kunj and Vasant Vihar. The Delhi ridge is part of Aravalli, the oldest mountain ranges that originate at Palanpur in Gujarat and pass through Rajasthan-Haryana and ends in Delhi. We drove from the school to Vasant Vihar with the school bus. There we were dropped off and started to walk inside the park. We were accompanied by two guides who provided us with a lot of information about the situation of the ridge of Delhi and its wild life. Human impacts were also discussed and how they are disturbing the area.
This revitalising park provides enough oxygen for the city of New Delhi as well as keeping the ground water level constant. This park is endangered of being exploited though due to daily encroachments and illegal settlements and illegal deforestation. Slums are moving further and further towards the boundaries of this Indian national reserve park, the Indira Gandhi International and Domestic Airport of New Delhi contribute to the destruction of this vulnerable ecosystem, and colonies also play their share in this problem. Furthermore the laws and regulations of the park are being violated like building new farmhouses, throwing garbage into the wild, driving motorised vehicles.
In addition to that we visited an old pottery factory which today is closed and the mined pits established as wetlands to maintain the moisture and ground water of this park. It is used today as the office for the management of this project. A mine behind was changed partly into a butterfly reservoir. The project has been initiated by Delhi Development Authority and CEMDE (University of Delhi).
Even though that there is no noise coming directly out of the Park except the gentle sounds of nature, it is very loud when you are standing in the middle of it. The peaceful natural silence gets violated by the arriving airplanes, the near located big streets and the rest of the city.
Today we learned that an ecosystem is a very fragile and susceptible place where we shall TAKE only pictures and LEAVE nothing but footprints.
Celine, Nadja, Emanuel, Moritz, Feb 3rd 2011
|
|
|
Green Strip Report
On the 3rd of February, we visited the Delhi south ridge area, that runs through various regions such as vasant kunj
and vasant vihar. We observed the dry forest and its habitat. We didn't expect to see a lot of environment in the biodiversity park, yet were surprised to actually find a well maintained environment, that wasn't overcrowded with Delhi population. Walking down the narrow road, we found typical plant species that were common in Delhi, however, due to the cities cement jungle, seemed to become rare around Delhi. On the way up we were stopped by one of the executive environmental officers of the organization. They didn't want to let us go into the park without prior permission, as a policy in order to regulate and preserve the habitat.
We continued up the path and came to a closed down pottery, which had been turned into a butterfly sanctuary, that plays a large role in preserving the biodiversity park. They fullfil various tasks in the environment, as they pollinate flowers, spread the seeds, and fertilize the soil. Due to them dying through the destruction of the preservatory, the population of lepidopteriea had to be reestablished.
After this, we continued through the forest, stopping now and then to view various plant species and smaller projects, which universities conducted within the biodiversity park. However, a lot of aeroplanes flew low over the park, that made us wonder, if it hasn't already scared of various mammal/bird species to relocate to outside of Delhi.
As we reached a hill, we could see the various colonies of buildings surrounding the green strip and noticed the construction sites enclosing it even further. Without the green strip Delhi would eventually heat up extremely and ruin the already disastrious Delhi air.
Cheyenne and Robin, Feb 3rd 2011
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
