Campaign Partner: Conservation India (since Aug 2022)
Who are we petitioning:
Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai and
Karnataka State Wildlife Board
Demand: Notify Hesaraghatta as a conservation reserve.
Update: Nov 5, 2022The Karnataka State Wildlife Board has decided that they will hold a public consultation before taking any decision regarding Hesaraghatta Grassland.
Update: Sep 5, 2022
On September 5th, we visited the Forest department and delivered over 66,000 petition signatures to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Mr. Vijay Kumar Gogi. We conveyed that thousands of Bangaloreans want Hesaraghatta grasslands to be notified as a conservation reserve and that the wildlife board should take the right decision to save one of Bangalore's last remaining grasslands.
Update : Aug 2022
On September 5th the State Wildlife Board will determine the fate of the Hesaraghatta grasslands. The land is likely to be turned into a concrete jungle if a development project is approved in the coming month. Join us to let our leaders know that we will protect the Hesaraghatta grasslands!
Why it is important
On the periphery of Bengaluru city is the Hesaraghatta lakebed which spans an area of about 1912 acres. The 356 acres of the landscape surrounding the lakebed is the last remaining grassland habitat in the Bengaluru region.
The plan to protect these grasslands by declaring it a conservation reserve was rejected by the State Board for Wildlife 20 January 2021 citing commercial reasons. The state forest department, along with the animal husbandry department, had chalked out a proposal for declaring the 5,010-acre land area as “Greater Hesaraghatta Grassland Conservation Reserve” and placed it before the Board but it was rejected.
Around 235 species of birds, some of them listed as endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, glide across the sky. A whopping 400 species of insects, of which nearly 30 have been described as new to science by entomologists, and 100 species of butterflies including the very rare Lilac Silverline (Cigaritis lilacinus), have chosen this land as their breeding spot.
A paper published in 2013 suggests that the lakebed vegetation is in transition. “From being a true aquatic community, the vegetation in the lakebed is undergoing a process of ‘ecological succession’ and is currently a grassland-savannah-woodland complex,” says the paper.
Moreover, the Hesaraghatta tank is one of the two major water reservoirs of the Arkavathy river. And with the Yettinahole river diversion project, lakes like Hesaraghatta would be augmented to provide water to rural Bengaluru.
Scientists believe that Hesaraghatta grasslands and surrounding areas are under pressure from various human activities that are bound to increase if any conservation intervention is delayed.
Sign the petition now to save the last remaining grassland of Bengaluru.
Source
Bengaluru’s yes to Hesaraghatta film-city means a no to the Lesser Florican - Citizen Matters
Board rejects Hessarghatta conservation reserve project - The New Indian Express
Not without our grassland - Bangalore Mirror
High Court : Consider declaring Hesaraghatta grasslands a Conservation Reserve
Campaign Partner: Conservation India (since Aug 2022)
Who are we petitioning:
Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai and
Karnataka State Wildlife Board
Demand: Notify Hesaraghatta as a conservation reserve.
Update: Nov 5, 2022The Karnataka State Wildlife Board has decided that they will hold a public consultation before taking any decision regarding Hesaraghatta Grassland.
Update: Sep 5, 2022
On September 5th, we visited the Forest department and delivered over 66,000 petition signatures to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Mr. Vijay Kumar Gogi. We conveyed that thousands of Bangaloreans want Hesaraghatta grasslands to be notified as a conservation reserve and that the wildlife board should take the right decision to save one of Bangalore's last remaining grasslands.
Update : Aug 2022
On September 5th the State Wildlife Board will determine the fate of the Hesaraghatta grasslands. The land is likely to be turned into a concrete jungle if a development project is approved in the coming month. Join us to let our leaders know that we will protect the Hesaraghatta grasslands!
Why it is important
On the periphery of Bengaluru city is the Hesaraghatta lakebed which spans an area of about 1912 acres. The 356 acres of the landscape surrounding the lakebed is the last remaining grassland habitat in the Bengaluru region.
The plan to protect these grasslands by declaring it a conservation reserve was rejected by the State Board for Wildlife 20 January 2021 citing commercial reasons. The state forest department, along with the animal husbandry department, had chalked out a proposal for declaring the 5,010-acre land area as “Greater Hesaraghatta Grassland Conservation Reserve” and placed it before the Board but it was rejected.
Around 235 species of birds, some of them listed as endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, glide across the sky. A whopping 400 species of insects, of which nearly 30 have been described as new to science by entomologists, and 100 species of butterflies including the very rare Lilac Silverline (Cigaritis lilacinus), have chosen this land as their breeding spot.
A paper published in 2013 suggests that the lakebed vegetation is in transition. “From being a true aquatic community, the vegetation in the lakebed is undergoing a process of ‘ecological succession’ and is currently a grassland-savannah-woodland complex,” says the paper.
Moreover, the Hesaraghatta tank is one of the two major water reservoirs of the Arkavathy river. And with the Yettinahole river diversion project, lakes like Hesaraghatta would be augmented to provide water to rural Bengaluru.
Scientists believe that Hesaraghatta grasslands and surrounding areas are under pressure from various human activities that are bound to increase if any conservation intervention is delayed.
Sign the petition now to save the last remaining grassland of Bengaluru.
Source
Bengaluru’s yes to Hesaraghatta film-city means a no to the Lesser Florican - Citizen Matters
Board rejects Hessarghatta conservation reserve project - The New Indian Express
Not without our grassland - Bangalore Mirror
High Court : Consider declaring Hesaraghatta grasslands a Conservation Reserve
Thank you for signing the petition to save the last remaining grassland of Bengaluru.
The more people are behind an issue - the more likely it is that the Chief Minister of Karnataka will pay attention. Each name that is added to a campaign takes it one step closer to succeeding.
Can you help spread the word about saving Hesaraghatta by sharing it with your friends and family?
Thanks for all that you do,
The Jhatkaa.org team
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