March 6th, 2024
By Harshavardhini Angappan
On February 7th and 8th, members of the Keystone Biodiversity team attended The Gandhigram Rural Institute in Dindigul for a National Workshop on IUCN Red List Assessment of Plant Diversity. The event was organized by The Gandhigram Rural Institute’s Department of Biology in association with the IUCN-SSC Western Ghats Plant Specialist Group (Redlist Authority). Fifty people participated in the event.
The workshop started off with the inaugural event on February 7th. Dr. M.R. Rajan, a professor and head of the biology department, gave a welcoming address at the event. Dr. M. Sethuraman, a professor of chemistry and dean of the school of sciences, then gave the presidential address. Dr. R. Ramasubbu, the organising secretary and assistant professor in the biology department, gave a brief overview of the workshop.
The inaugural speech was delivered by Dr. L. Radhakrishnan, Registrar (i/c), and was followed by felicitation from Dr. Aparna Watve, Coordinator, Red List Authority, and Dr. Anita Varghese, Chair, IUCN-SSC, Western Ghats Plant Specialist Group. Dr. P.U. Mahalingam, a professor in the biology department and co-organizing secretary, gave the vote of thanks.
Following the inaugural function, Dr. Aparna gave a technical discussion on “Introduction to Red List” and “Introduction to Red List Criteria A and B” at the beginning of the workshop. Dr. Shiny then led a practical session on “Mapping and calculating EOO and AOO” in the afternoon. Participants worked on the maps until the conclusion of the day, when there was a “Q & A” session.
The following day began with a technical discussion on “Diversity, Importance, and Conservation of Plants of the Western Ghats” by Dr. Ramasubbu, followed by a talk by Dr. Aparna on “Introduction to Red List Criteria C and D.” Dr. Anita gave a discussion on “Using Red Lists for Conservation” after the attendees participated in a hands-on session on “Entering data in online SIS database training version” conducted by Ms. Harshavardhini and Mr. Vishnu in the afternoon. Participants received their certificates of participation as the session came to an end with a valedictory ceremony.
Resource persons:
1) Dr. Aparna Watve, Coordinator, Red List Authority
2) Dr. Anita Varghese, Chair, IUCN-SSC, Western Ghats Plant Specialist Group
3) Dr. Shiny Rehel, Senior Programme Coordinator, Keystone Foundation
4) Dr. R. Ramasubbu, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, The Gandhigram Rural Institute
5) Mr. Vishnu NM, Technical Coordinator, Keystone Foundation
6) Ms. Harshavardhini Angappan, Technical Coordinator, Keystone Foundation
