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Green IT...
Green IT raises eyebrows...
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By Frederick Noronha
IT DOESN'T REMAIN just IT when other professionals realise how this
technology could be useful to their work. This happened recently, when the
announcement of two interesting CDs drew the attention of agri-professionals
across the handful of mailing lists that knit them together.
(Incidentally, some of the mailing lists connected with agriculture include
isapindia@yahoogroups.com, isap-ict-agri@yahoogroups.com,
goanet-bsg@goacom.com, and even a couple from across the border but within
South Asia like IndusFarming from Pakistan.)
So the release of the CDRoms led to quite some interest.
One CD is an extensive database of plant species found in the southern
Indian state of Karnataka. Said the environmental magazine, Down To Earth:
"This is the first time that such information has been compiled from various
government and non-government sources and put together in a searchable and
user-friendly format for students, researchers and botanists."
It offers a district and taluka-wise break-up of flora details. These are
presented through land-use maps of agro-climatic zones, major and minor
towns, rivers, water bodies and vegetation.
A total of 4,935 plant species found in the state are recorded. According to
the database, Hassan district is the richest in terms of flora resources,
with 4,561 species recorded.
In addition, for those not familiar with the scientific names, about 6,000
commonly-used names of various plant species are arranged alphabetically in
31 Indian languages for the viewer to search through.
"This CD-ROM will be of great help to both academics and policy-planners and
it fills a gap in digital resources on plant species in India. One can now
look forward to similar databases on the flora, and perhaps even fauna, of
other states in the country," commented the environmental fortnightly that
comes out from New Delhi.
More recently, the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore alsozz
added on one more CD on the Plants of Western Ghats. Called the Sahyadri, or
the Western Ghats, these mountain ranges have an average height of 1200
metres. It runs about 1600 km long and continues parallel to the western
border of the Deccan Plateau, from the mouth of the river Tapti to
Kanyakumari, the southernmost point of India.
The Western Ghats overlook the Arabian Sea, and catches the full force of
the monsoon winds, thus precipating heavy rains on the west coast. This
region is considered to be ecologically sensitive, and also rich in
biodiversity.
Each of these CDs are priced at Rs 500/ (10 US$).
More details on how to get copies of these CDs can be obtained from K N
Ganehshaiah of the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, University of
Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Bangalore 560 065 Email: kng@vsnl.com Phone: 91
80 3636 276 (at work) 91 80 3636 412 (at home) Mobile 98450 30767 Fax: 91 80
353 0070 www.atree.org/kng.htm
Or contact the Bio-diversity Documentation Unit Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for
Advanced Scientific Research Jakkur, Bangalore 560 065, India (ENDS)
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Frederick Noronha (FN) | http://www.fredericknoronha.net
Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org
http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com
http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks
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