Snippets from Session 3 – UNLESS
What is a habitat? What is the significance of habitat for any species? What happens to a species when a habitat is lost?
These were some points of enquiry that we discussed and addressed in Session 3 of “Unless-Nature & Sustainability Education” series. The session started with a tree meditation where all participants and volunteers let their imaginations soar across nature and reminded them of things forgotten.
Some of the participants who had worked on the follow-up activity from last session – observing ants- shared what they saw; we also learnt a lot of new things from this sharing and discussion – the different types of ants, how they carry the food, how they communicate, how they survive, the roles of different ants, and so on.
We then looked moved on to explaining and understanding what a habitat means and the kind of ecosystem that supports a species in its habitat. We looked at various examples from oceans to rainforest to bolster the understanding. Later, the participants were shown videos showcasing some of the habitats and the species that live there. We shared the interconnectedness between the species sharing the habitats and ecosystems; and how it helps biodiversity thrive in these ecosystems.
Subsequently, we once more looked the example of removal and reintroduction of grey wolves in the Yellowstone National Park in the USA. Participants saw how the removal of wolves, a keystone species, led to loss of various other species from that ecosystem. The facilitators then flipped the question to help participants reflect on what might happen if the habitat or ecosystem of species is endangered or removed. How will that impact the biodiversity in that ecosystem?
A lot of interesting nuggets emerged from the discussion…
The participants were then divided into smaller groups facilitated by a volunteer. Each group was provided a short food chain in an ecosystem and was asked to discuss and reflect upon how the species would be impacted if the habitat was lost or endangered. Each group was to discuss on a separate ecosystem – ocean, grasslands, rain forest and desert.
The session ended with each group sharing about the impact that they thought happen if a habitat was lost. Most of this centered around the biodiversity loss due to habitat loss. Interestingly, with a little nudge from the volunteer facilitators, the participants thought about the wider impact on humans from habitat loss of other species. For example, would some species migrate to different places when their habitat is lost?? How will that impact humans who depended on those species – if fish were to migrate to a different area for food because they lost their habitat/species on whom they are dependent for food?
Being short on time, we could not discuss in detail about the human-animal conflict that may also be caused due to habitat loss. It was a fun and enriching session with lot of new reflections that came up from participants.
