Eco Cadet Corps project remains frozen in red tape

Key points

• A decade after its initial conception, a promising environmental initiative in Kerala remains caught in a web of administrative delays and unfulfilled promises.
• The Eco Cadet Corps (ECC) project, designed by the Kerala Forest department, was first proposed in 2014 with the aim of training schoolchildren in vital conservation efforts such as mangrove protection, biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration.
• Despite early momentum, including the initial allocation of funds, the project was placed on the back burner for over 10 years due to bureaucratic bottlenecks, leaving its vast potential to nurture young environmental stewards completely untapped.
• Modelled after SPC “The project, modelled after the Student Police Cadet (SPC) programme, targeted a minimum of 1,000 students from Classes VIII to X, pulled from over 1,195 active Forestry Clubs across the State.
• But it has languished in bureaucratic limbo for over a decade,” says Noushad K.A., schoolteacher and Forestry Club coordinator from Ernakulam....