COIMBATORE: A total of 30 Irula tribal people from Seengapathi, a settlement in Boluvampatti forest range near the city, have completed a course on making furniture using Lantana camara, an invasive species in the region.The first batch which completed the course, offered under the Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP) of the ministry of environment, forest and climate change, received certificates on Tuesday at the settlement.Getting certified under the programme would enable the beneficiaries to be resource persons for teaching the craft and offer training courses, said organisers.The 75-day course had two parts, a 15-day theory component and a 60-day practical component, said Maya Mahajan, associate professor at the Centre for Sustainable Future, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, which organised the course.Lantana camara is an invasive exotic weed species which has been creating ecological problems in the Western Ghats and poses threat to the biodiversity of the region. So the use of lantana to make furniture was a win-win situation, as it controls the pest and also provides the tribal people a livelihood.Mahajan said next year they would not only train more batches but would also give the already trained an advanced programme in making more complicated furniture designs.The programme would also be taken to other villages, she said. “In the long-term, we have planned to conduct the lantana craft making course under the Green Skill Development Programme across the country,” she said.

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