Despite economic dependence on tea: “green deserts” are being revived in southern India
Kyiv • UNN
In the Nilgiris region of South India, environmentalists are trying to restore natural forests destroyed by tea plantations. Industrial tea cultivation has destroyed 70% of local forests and meadows over 200 years.
The Indian region of the Western Ghats (or Sahyadri) mountains was planted with rows of tea plantations 200 years ago, due to the influence of British colonizers. But before that, litchi and groves covered a large area around the mountains. Environmentalists believe that industrial tea cultivation has destroyed the soil's nutrients, but by organizing themselves into groups, experts and volunteers are trying to restore the forests, home to more than 600 native plants and 150 species of animals.
This was reported by Al Jazeera , UNN and UNN.
Details
Scattered groves of native trees, flowers, and occasional prehistoric burials are squeezed between hundreds of thousands of tea bushes in the Nilgiris region of South India. Almost 200 years ago, British colonizers established rows of tea plantations along the Western Ghats. The few groves that have survived to this day are now under the protection of indigenous communities, who protect them for the sake of their faith and traditions. They are also tended to by environmentalists, who, for example, remove tea trees from abandoned farms and plant seeds native to this biodiverse region.
There is now an initiative to restore the natural habitat of more than 600 native plants and 150 animal species. These include those found only in the Nilgiris region and the surrounding area.
But how much effort will be enough to revive the “green deserts”?
On the one hand, environmentalists argue that growing tea on an industrial scale has destroyed nutrients in the soil and led to problems with animals such as elephants and gaurs, or Indian bison, as these animals have little forest left to live in.
But on the other hand, it should be noted that almost everyone out of the region's 700,000-plus population is a or grows black, green, and white tea;
or works with almost three million tourists who come here.
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Harm from the tea industry.
It is estimated that nearly 55,000 hectares of tea were planted in the mountains, resulting in damage to nearly 70% of local meadows and forests.
There is no biodiversity. It does not support local fauna and is not a source of food
For reference
The forests on the territory of tea plantations are recognized by the United Nations as one of the eight “biodiversity hotspots” in the world. But there is a problem - the process of soil destruction has been recorded in these areas. Due to the excessive use of pesticides and other commercial farming practices, environmentalists have dubbed them “green deserts.” This applies to the Nilgiris region.
Poorer soil makes these lands more vulnerable to landslides and floods: the neighboring mountainous region of Wayanad suffered devastating landslides that killed nearly 200 people in early 2024. Nilgiris may suffer a similar fate, environmentalists warn.
