thanal
"THANAL" - CONSERVATION ACTION & INFORMATION NETWORK
Thanal is a broad network registered as a society under The Societies Registration Act in 1986. Thanal was initially concerned about Natural History studies and Nature Education. The main focus is on study and building of database on Natural Heritage. Surveys of Heronary of Keralam, Survey of the Birds of Sacred Groves are ongoing programmes without any external financial support.
Thanal published the "Book of Kerala Birds", the first comprehensive work on Kerala Birds since Salim Ali's " Birds of Kerala". The same was well received by national and international birdwatchers. Thanal team interacted with Kerala Sahithya Academy and revised the book "Keralathile Pakshikal"(Birds of Keralam) updating it with new additions. Thanal also has brought a report on the Kole wetlands of Thrissur.
Thanal team has done considerable number of bird study. Most of the things were published as papers and notes in BNHS journal, Hornbill and Birdwatchers' Newsletter. At present Sri. C. Sasikumar, President of Thanal is doing a Raptor study for BNHS, Mumbai.
Thanal started the Teacher and Environment Network in 1993 as a forum for interacting with Educators and Teachers on Environment Education. The network has over 350 teachers in the mailing list.
Nature Club Council a co-ordinating body for Nature Clubs of India was launched by Thanal in 1994. The Council has over 500 schools in the mailing list. Filmshows, audiovisual shows, reference facility, programme design and back up and other services are offered to the clubs registered to the Council. The Council has one full time Programme Coordinator and many volunteers. Council has two regular publications and occasional discussion papers. The members collected 1.53 lakhs of signatures to appeal to the Prime Minister of India to improve tiger conservation efforts.
The Marine Turtle Conservation Action as an informal body founded in 1995 by Thanal and formally launched in 1996. Marine Turtle Conservation Action has been networking with national and international agencies. The work till date has been on building a database. The Kerala Forest department has sponsored a project to survey the Keralam coast and to develop a management plan for the Marine Turtle Conservation involving communities. Marine Turtle Conservation Action would like to start 'turtle helpline' which is in the pipeline. Thanal has setup a "Centre for Nature Studies" as its research wing. The Centre is building a field base on wetlands. A report on the impact of tourism on the wetlands a case study is already completed for the tourism research organisation EQUATIONS of Bangalore.
'Toxic Alert Group' of THANAL focuses at studies, campaigns and education programmes related to toxics around us. A network of students to alert on toxic issues is being established. We bring out a Newsletter "Toxic Alert-Keralam" published by Greenpeace every month, as a campaign material on Remembering Bhopal. Toxics in the Industry, Pesticide Toxicity issues and Toxics around us are the main focus of the Group.
Tourism is a growing socio-cultural problem affecting the natural and cultural heritage of our State. We have an association with EQUATIONS, a Bangalore based Tourism research organisation to understand and act upon the issues related to the fallouts of Intense, unsustainable tourism activity in this State. Thanal is acting as a watch group and bringing out impact studies, with the support of individual donations within the state.
Thanal functions on an informal basis, and is a group of individuals forming a collective platform to work together. The work and programs are designed and guided by the Core Group. Thanal is forming an Advisory Board, which will be registered, as a Public Trust. Till date, most of the funding are from the Group members or the projects taken up by the members in their individual capacities. It is driven by the mission of "QUEST FOR SURVIVAL" and "GATHERING FOR ALL BEINGS".
P.B. No. 815, KAWDIAR P.O., THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, KERALAM, INDIA. PIN 695 003
Tel: 0471-311896. E-mail: thanal@vsnl.comOther Places to go: