Image credit: Project Team
VANASUMA is a book, also a field guide in Kannada about the diversity of wild flowering trees in and around Bannerghatta National Park highlighting the importance of trees and inculcating passion and responsibility about the natural environment especially among Children, leading to conservation of trees and nature.
Bannerghatta National Park is a habitat to diverse flora. The book, VANASUMA will be a record of the wild flowering trees in and around the National Park in Kannada, which will serve as a field guide as well – with high quality pictures and detailed descriptions of the trees. Tree walks and environment awareness programmes will be conducted especially for School and College students. The project is chiefly aimed to instil compassion, enthusiasm and responsibility about trees and nature in young minds, by bringing out this inspirational book in Kannada so as to can engage the readers in identifying and understanding the significance of trees in and around the National Park. The project aims to reach about 2000 students from about 150 Government Schools and Colleges and the book shall be distributed to Educational Institutions and Public Libraries around the study area as well as a softcopy shall be accessible through the website (www.indiawcg.org).
By Wildlife Conservation Group (WCG) and Dr TPN Hariprasad.
Project Start Date: October 2024
Contact details:
wcg.bnp@gmail.com
- Facebook: @WCGBangalore
- Instagram: @wildlife_conservation_group
- Twitter: @WCGIndia
- Website: www.indiawcg.org | www.kaananamag.in
Status Report & Updates
As of Jun 2025, the project team has completed documentation for 105 out of 153 targeted tree species and are focusing on capturing photos of flowers and fruits due to the current season. The team has presented details to the Forest Department for permission to access the interior of the park for further species documentation. Literature review is currently being undertaken to enrich the final publication content. They are also working on deciding the book’s design and layout.
Between October 2024 and March 2025, significant efforts were made to plan and collect essential data, establishing a strong foundation for the Vanasuma Project’s fieldwork. Following the appointment of a Research Assistant and a Technical Assistant, all necessary materials were assembled to compile a comprehensive tree checklist. Data collection commenced, beginning with the systematic marking of trees in the study area.
