PALLISHREE Director General, Durga Prasod Dash
Chilika Lake is situated on the Indian east coast, in Orissa. With an area of 100ha, it is the India's largest lagoon (brackish water lake). Noted as one of the most outstandingly biodiversity-rich sites in India, it is home to some endangered species including the Irrawaddy dolphin. Surrounding it are 132 villages populated by approximately 150 thousand people, seventy percent of whom fish for a living. Therefore, it can be said that local residents are heavily dependent upon the lagoon..
At present, Chilika Lake is threatened with both natural and anthropogenic dangers, including those mentioned below:
"Pallishree" means "beautiful village" in th e Oriya language. We are an NGO with a mission to environmentally educate local residents. This year, we have been working in the area north of the lake with the objective of fostering local understanding towards the role of local residents in the conservation of the lake's unique ecosystem. Such activities include those following:
In January this year, the Chilika Development Agency (CDA) held the "International Workshop on Restoring Chilika Lake" in the provincial capital, Bhubaneswar. We invited guests from Hokkaido's Saroma Lake Cultivation Fisheries Cooperative, with which we have enjoyed a friendship from an earlier time, to see the present state of Chilika Lake. The interchange between Saroma Lake and Chilika Lake has become increasingly intense as of the end of last year, and we have been able to exchange mutually beneficial information.
PALLISHREE
137 Dharma Vihar, handagiri
Bhubaneswar, Orissa 751030
India
TEL: +91-674-471182
FAX: +91-674-552496
Download Adobe Reader
Adobe Reader is required to view Portable Document Format PDF files.