4 months ago
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The Tamil Nadu Department of Environment, Climate Change and Forests has invited bids for the operation of the projected International Bird Centre (IBC) astatine the Kazhuveli Bird Sanctuary successful Villupuram’s Marakkanam.
The IBC volition beryllium established nether the Tamil Nadu Strengthening Coastal Resilience and the Economy Project (TN-SHORE) astatine an estimated outgo of ₹46.94 crore. The centre is envisaged arsenic a hub for vertebrate conservation consciousness done some interior (displays and models) and exterior (wetland mimic area/nature trail) interpretations.
According to authoritative sources, the projected task volition travel up astatine 2 sites—the Agaram Reserved Forest on the East Coast Road and the Kazhuveli Lake—approximately 7.3 km apart. The absorption is connected seamlessly integrating the built structures with the surrounding landscape.
At the Agaram forest, the IBC volition beryllium developed implicit an country of 47.46 acres and volition see a scope of amenities aimed astatine promoting conservation awareness. These volition comprise a Conservation Centre, a Wetland Mimic Area, and probe and grooming facilities.
A cardinal diagnostic of the IBF is its scenery design, conceived arsenic a surviving canvas that unfolds on the quality way that allows visitors to immerse themselves successful the ecosystem. The scenery plan, projected by the Auroville Botanical Garden, covers 10.65 acres earmarked for afforestation and 7.41 acres for landscaping. They are expected to enactment a divers array of fauna, including insects, reptiles, amphibians and tiny mammals.
The scenery volition see a biodiversity forest, a curated forest, a grassland, and pathways for visitant engagement.
Equipped with a scaled exemplary of Kazhuveli Lake, the Centre volition diagnostic antithetic zones that hint the past of Kazhuveli done ample mentation show boards; multimedia experiential abstraction and digitally enabled stations wherever visitors tin perceive to calls of birds autochthonal to the sanctuary. In addition, the centre volition besides showcase antithetic vertebrate habitats, offering indispensable accusation astir the avian visitors to the wetland.
Located astatine Kazhuveli Lake, the 2nd tract volition see vertebrate watching infrastructure, including an observatory and wetland zones. Visitors volition beryllium transported from the Agaram wood to the bird-watching tract astatine Kazhuveli utilizing electrical shuttles. The vertebrate ticker tower, projected to beryllium built 10.8 metres high, volition dwell of 3 levels, each providing astir 450 sq. ft. of abstraction for exploration and observation.
Major wetland
Located adjacent to Marakkanam on East Coast Road, the Kazhuveli Lake is 1 of the large wetlands connected the Coromandel Coast
The h2o assemblage is connected to the Bay of Bengal by the Uppukalli Creek and the Yedayanthittu estuary and lies on the Central Asian Flyway, making it an important nesting tract for migratory birds. The water is the second-largest brackish h2o wetland successful Tamil Nadu.
Listed among Tamil Nadu’s 141 prioritised wetlands, Kazhuveli is recognised arsenic a wetland of planetary value and a imaginable Ramsar site, according to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’s Wetlands of India portal. It is location to implicit 200 taxon of birds and serves arsenic a important stopover and breeding crushed for astir 40,000 migratory birds. It besides functions arsenic a feeding crushed for long-distance migrants from the acold subarctic regions of Central Asia and Siberia, including taxon specified arsenic black-tailed Godwits, Eurasian Curlew, achromatic stork, Ruff and Dunlin.
‘Vulnerable’ birds
Bird taxon recorded successful the sanctuary see spot-billed pelicans, darters, cormorants, herons, egrets, achromatic ibis, spoonbills, flamingos, communal pochard, sandpipers, coots, shanks, and terns. Many of these taxon are categorised arsenic ‘vulnerable’ oregon ‘near threatened’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
According to the 2016 report, Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas successful India-Tamil Nadu, by the Bombay Natural History Society and Indian Bird Conservation Network, the country regularly hosts much than 30,000 ducks successful winter, 20,000-40,000 shorebirds, and 20,000-50,000 terns during the migration period. As the water fills up with freshwater successful November, a assortment of aquatic plants germinate, it says.
