Moorhen Yoga Mat
DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS
GS PAPER II: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Context: A biodegradable and compostable yoga mat developed from water hyacinth by six young girls from the fishing community in Assam could turn this water plant from a nuisance to wealth.
- The girls belong to the fishing community living in the fringe of the Deepor Beel.
- The innovation by the girls, whose families are directly dependent on the wetland for survival, could contribute significantly towards the environmental conservation and sustainability of Deepor Beel and also ensure local livelihood.
- The mat called ‘Moorhen Yoga Mat’ will soon be introduced to the world market as a unique product.
- The intervention was triggered through an initiative by North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR), an autonomous body under Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India to involve the entire women community associated with a collective called ‘Simang’ meaning dream, led by the 6 girls to create wealth from water hyacinth plants.
About Deepor Beel:
- It is a permanent freshwater lake in south west of Guwahati city.
- It is recognised as a Ramsar Site (a wetland of international importance) and a bird wildlife sanctuary.
- The lake has been a source of livelihood for 9 villages of the fishing community who shared this biome for centuries.
About Moorhen Yoga Mat
- It is a hand-woven 100% biodegradable and 100 % compostable mat to be used for doing Yoga was ideated as a means to provide multiple ecological and social benefits.
- The mat developed through fiber processing and technological interventions could improve the aquatic ecosystem of the wetland through removal of water hyacinth.
- It will help sustainable production of utility products with community engagement and generate of livelihood for indigenous communities to become completely ‘Atamanirbhar’.
- The ‘Moorhen Yoga mat’ named after Kam Sorai (Purple moorhen, a resident bird of Deepor Beel Wildlife sanctuary), comes in a cotton canvas cloth bag where no zip or metal closures are used.
- The bag has adjustable strap and closures effectively designed to be in sync with biodegradability.
About water hyacinth plant:
- It is an aquatic plant native to the Amazon basin, and is often a highly problematic invasive species outside its native range.
- The plant is extremely tolerant of, and has a high capacity for, the uptake of heavy metals, including cadmium, chromium, cobalt, nickel, lead and mercury, which could make it suitable for the biocleaning of industrial wastewater.
- Plant has abundant nitrogen content, it can be used as a substrate for biogas production and the sludge obtained from the biogas.
- When not controlled, water hyacinth will cover lakes and ponds entirely; this dramatically affects water flow and blocks sunlight from reaching native aquatic plants which often die.
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