Renowned environmentalist Kh Shamungou has cautioned that increasing number of ‘Kokil’ in Manipur is not a good sign.
He said, Kokil (Indian Koel) is a member of Cuckoo species of birds and their advent in Manipur could be taken as an indicator of changes in climate of the region in the last few decades.
He was speaking during the first interaction programme for 5th Media Fellows (2024-2025) on Climate Change Reporting held at State Botanical Garden, Khonghampat, Imphal on Saturday.
Dr Shamungou said, Kokil is a species which thrives in hot climates and it began appearing in the state since 1980 and it seems to be settling down and the population of the bird increased in 2013-14.
Temperature before the 80s in Manipur was recorded as 30 degree with slight fluctuation but with the increase in deforestation in hill areas and urban areas the temperature in Manipur was recorded 40 degree Celsius in the last few days, he added.
He further said Manipur has started witnessing sudden change in weather and the natural remedy of the issue could be only solved by afforestation and mass tree plantation.
Besides, chief scientist (CSIR- Northeast Institute of Science and technology), H Birkumar said climate change is a natural phenomenon and every place will face the issue of climate change without disturbing the environmental surroundings also. However, in some places the issue of climate change is faced at a faster rate if the environmental surroundings are disturbed.
He said in the last few years Manipur faced untimely rainfall and shifting of rainfall from one place to another.
A policy needs to be implemented for tree plantation. He said if tree plantation is done after analysing the particular soil of the particular then most of the tree plantation could succeed.
He opined that for rejuvenation of forest, undisturbed plants or trees in the area should be identified as without identifying those plants and trees, rejuvenation of forest will be hard.
During the programme media fellows interacted with the experts on various topics including heat wave like nature and drought like situation that has been facing in the state.
Editors from Imphal Free Press, Irengbam Arun; Sangai Express (Manipur Edition), Khogendro Khomdram; editor of Imphal Review of Arts and Politics, Pradip Phanjoubam and others were present during the programme.
Director, directorate of environment and climate change, government of Manipur, T Brajakumar Singh also took part in the programme as an expert.
