Arunachala Greening

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.arunachala . greening.

This is the website for the Arunachala Kattu Siva Plantation. We are a group of South Indian villagers and their supporters working to restore a healthy ecosystem for all sentient beings in our area. Committed to working in co-operation with natural processes, our activities are located at the foot of the sacred mountain Arunachala beside the temple town of Thiruvannamalai in the State of Tamil Nadu, India. We have formed a Registered Trust after having been fully engaged on the reforestation of Arunachala Mountain for seven years. A recent change in perspective presents us now with considerably greater potential for a more pervasive sustainable contribution towards a healthier ecology by focusing our endeavours on community involvement in plain surrounding the mountain.

.historical . context.

Arunachala is the Sanskrit name of a very famous mountain; it means ‘Fire Mountain’. In the fourth century a shrine was created at the eastern foot of this mountain that was a companion to an earlier shrine on the north-west in Adianamalai; the former eventually grew into the largest temple complex in all of India – Tajulingam Arunachaleshwar, revered internationally as one of the five main Shiva temples. Thiruvannamalai town gradually spread to surround this temple complex but since being designated District Headquarters two decades ago, it faces ever-increasing population growth fueled primarily by tourism, pilgrimage and burgeoning religious institutions. The Thiruvachakam – an ancient Tamil religious and literary work of great repute, refers to Arunachala as a hill where animals – including elephants – lived in large numbers. Such a rich forested habitat can only be imagined now since centuries of unsustainable agricultural practices and unrelenting demand for fuel and fodder had – by the mid-eighties, entirely denuded this area. The majestic mountain rising in the centre of a plain accentuated the environmental degradation for all to see.

.background . ecology.

Like all mountains, Arunachala has the capacity to be a sponge, soaking up seasonal rainfall and gradually releasing it into the underground basin. This happens only if the mountain is forested; then the roots of plants retain the rainfall and prevent erosion of valuable soil on the slopes, whereas on a deforested mountain precious rain runs off taking soil with it and hence further contributing to the problem of erosion as well as the fact that much of the water stagnates and evaporates near the surface in low-lying fields.

The lowlands immediately surrounding the mountain provide testimony to the high value ancient inhabitants held for water, by the deep rock-lined tanks hand built adjacent to the hill-round-roadway surrounding Arunachala. Such ancient water conservation strategies need to be re-established with the reforestation of the mountain and surrounding flat lands in order for us to effectively manage the water resources for the monumentally larger population of today.

The indigenous vegetation of this area is of dry deciduous forest that rustles with the dry crackle of seed-pods of spring and bursts forth the confident new green bloom in mid summer despite temperatures in the forties sustained for several months. These forests provide countless medicinal uses, they clean our contaminated air and – in sufficient plenitude, they will increase and regulate rainfall also.

Although many voices are congratulatory about the recent spread of green on and around Arunachala, and after a good monsoon the hill certainly does display the verdant brilliance as you see in the image below:

nevertheless this image captures a not infrequent play of light after a night storm at the height of the monsoon; in relation to every-day aspects of Arunachala, these conditions stand as the wishful prognosis for the every-day of a restored eco-system in the future.

The reality is however that after thirty years perseverance in the endeavour to reforest the sacred monument, only a small fraction of the total surface area is now ‘tree-covered’. Reforestation of any kind in this area has always been swimming upstream. A major reason for this is that for many years in recent history, the backwoods character of the local rural population was part of our ecology along with the depleted soils, the eroded slopes, the water-table moving from grey to black. This was all we had to work with here. But this year it does seem that there is sign of breakthrough, an inclination however faint towards transformation or at least potential improvement in the community commitment to quality in life for all.

.degradation . depreciation . degeneration.

Simply articulated the reasons for the environmental damage that so acutely effected the ecosystem in this area during the decades following the mid-eighties are typical of other raped ecosystems: ignorance and greed. However the dynamics of the transition from a very dry and hot arena with sufficient water for the needs of a small population austerely utilizing ancient ecologically sound practices imposed by necessity – as it was until the early eighties, to a fast-growing population flagrantly wasting water with no heed to the future – as it was by the early nineties, required a certain confluence of changes beyond immediate human control:

• Agricultural practices: free electricity for farmers and a low-interest loan scheme for the provision of pumpsets in the rural community. This resulted in

- Widespread change from dry crops to water-greedy rice

- Indiscriminate sinking of artesian bore wells

• Massive rise in residential population: caused by the designation of District Headquarters, coinciding with the rise of the Middle Classes following the entry of India into globalisation and

• Massive influx of tourist population: caused by huge rise in influx of pilgrims, due to a freak Bollywood film that regurgitated an ancient belief that wishes are granted to pilgrims who walk around the mountain at full moon. This resulted in

- unmanageable numbers of visitors

- increase in disease

- increase in unhealthy but lucrative practices, and

- a discernible devaluation in basic human values other than monetary including a reduction to the attention to respect for natural processes.

As is the case in many other ecosystems, these changes have all transpired within the era of the earliest indications of Climate Change: regular failure in seasonal patterns of rainfall.

.effort . accomplishments.

Apeetha Arunagiri formally began introducing awareness of the ecosystem in the community in the early eighties with performances of puppet theatre in schools and the employment of a small group of planters. Later the Annamalai Reforestation Society was formed with the assistance of John Seed of the Rainforest Information Centre in Lismore Australia and more recently AKSP was initiated with a particular emphasis in social ecology. ARS remains a flourishing project to this day. This website represents the function of AKSP in the social ecology of Arunachalam. These two friendly photos below were taken about fifteen years ago when the nursery was in the outer prakaram of the Sri Arunachalaeswar temple compound; you see Apeetha’s daughter Devi with Subramanian – one of the very first planters, surrounded by the substantial nursery and then Supervisor Abdul Khadar with the women workers and Devi:

ars with abdul khadar in temple complex2 welcome

The ARS plantation at the back of Sri Ramanasramam is a splendid flourishing forest these days as you see in this image taken last year:

ani with subra on mountain path23 welcome

This is Devi’s daughter Ani with Subramanian who is still going strong.

For many years these two projects – ARS and AKSP have contributed substantially towards the Greening of Arunachala Mountain – an arduous process that will require many more years no doubt as well as the transformation of the community, since the restoration of the ecosystem requires the psychological involvement of the vast majority of the population.

.space/time . framework.

Both projects initiated by Apeetha have focused their involvement on the restoration of Arunachala’s ancient forests – ARS on the east face of the mountain in area designated as under the authority of the Revenue Department, and AKSP has been working in the Reserve Forest on the west side of the mountain, under the authority of the Forest Department. The Tamil Nadu Government Forest Department has until now not been interested in the reforestation of Arunachala at all, however recently the authorities have decided to take over the reforestation, securing the entire site under their immediate control. We are confident that by relocating the plantation work on to the flat lands surrounding the mountain the Arunachala Kattu Siva Plantation group now has far greater potential to interact with and influence the community. Land was offered to build a nursery in Selvapuram, adjacent to Vediyappanur and we are in the process of developing this site as our basic nursery centre.

Now early in 2010, we are planting in graveyards at Selvapuram, Palyampet, Vediyappanur. Anaipiranthan and Thenamalai; school playgrounds at Vediyappanur and Nalavanpalayam, village streets and roadways in Rajarajeswarinagar and Vediyappanur, a tertiary campus at Pudupallayam and sacred precincts: a Murugan temple at Palyampet and the Muthalaymman temple complex just across the Ring Road on the Vettavallam road and are negotiating the plantation of a Muslim darghar in Tamarinagar. Recently we have begun with shadow puppet workshops at the Arunachala Village School near our nursery – which has a strong ecological orientation, and are confident that with the encouragement of the staff of this wonderful school the children will become proficient in spreading environmental awareness in their area; this is the very best way to influence a community in a healthy direction. Below you see the first grave on the new burial ground in Selvapuram that we have nicely planted:

.details . projections.

The plan for the coming years is to maintain our flourishing, totally organic nursery infrastructure, continue to collect seeds of hardy indigenous species, and plant strong saplings wherever we can be sure of their survival in the area surrounding Arunachala. All our planters and two Supervisors are in the process of training. We are embarking on the development of an organic farming training centre near Adianamalai. We also wish to engage a very competent young woman to work as an Environment Education Liaison Agent in schools in the area. We hope to attract the funding required to extend our activities in these directions. We can expect to plant at least 9,000 saplings in the calendar period of 2010-11, provided the Winter Monsoon does not entirely fail. The following is a list of the trees that we plant; these are being cultivated in our nursery:

Hardwikya Binata(Acahan), Dalbergia Sisoo (Kattu Vagai), Ptercarpus Marsupium (Iyalwagai), Delonex Elata (Mayil Kondrai), Tamerindus Indica (Puliya Maram), Azaradica Indica (Veppa Maram), Derica Indica (Punga Maram), Cassia Nilotica (Sara Kondrai), Casia Siamia (Manjal Kondrai), Agle Marmelous (Vilva Maram), Mimusop Elengi (Magila Maram), Albezia Amara (Thuringi Maram), Maduka Indica (Illuppai), Writia Tinctoria (Veppalai), Milingtonia Hortensis.

.team . tasks.

The human resources used in the AKSP activities are numerically low, 8 members, with two members acting as supervisors. The supervisors have a good knowledge of planting methods and physically participate in the planting programme. In addition to the permanent group, we need to hire temporary workers during the intensive plantation season following the Winter Monsoon. The Managing Supervisor directs all activities associated with planting operations, maintenance of infrastructure and managing the human resources. Our participation structure is as follows:

Managing Supervisor: (1 person), Nursery and Planting Supervisors: (2 persons), Planting Planters in training: (5 persons), Seasonal workers: (25 persons).

The team is employed on a work calendar basis. The manager is employed on a monthly basis for the whole year, the supervisors and members are paid fortnightly as are the planters; all work five days a week for the whole year except for public holidays, and all receive allocations for holiday and sick leave. The seasonal workers are employed for a month to two months depending on the vagaries of the seasons, because the actual planting activity can be anticipated to occur in an intensive period of one month, at the most two – depending on the rains, unless a reliable water source is available on site. The permanent planting group is actively engaged in preparation activities for the rest of the year. Such activities include:

Preparation and maintenance of nursery site:

- Collection, cleaning, sorting, drying, preparing and storing of seeds

- Preparation of phosphobacteria, vermiculture, collection of leaf mould, cow manure and collection/cultivation of nitrogen-fixing plants

- preparation of seed beds and clay nurturing pots

Preparation of plantation site:

- digging of plantation pits

- preparation of mulch

- preparation of protection against predators - creating rainwater catchment channels.

Preparation of surrounding populace:

- preparation of audio-visual resources

- creating community awareness and support

- networking with community interest groups and other like-minded organizations.

Undertaking courses/workshops to extend one’s own experience.