Context
Recently, the Kerala government amended its earlier order of allowing the Kerala Forest Development Corporation (KFDC) to plant eucalyptus trees for its financial sustenance in 2024-2025 to limit permission to only cut exotic tree species from lands in the KFDC’s control.
Kerala Revises KFDC Order to Combat Invasive Species and Human-Wildlife Conflict
- Issue with the Earlier Order: In 2021, the Kerala government had published an eco-restoration policy that sought to address the “proliferation of invasive species that are not suitable for our environment” and the resulting “depletion of natural forests”.
- Harmful Impacts: According to the policy, such depletion was in turn forcing wild animals to move to human-occupied land in search of food and thus increasing the prevalence of human-wildlife conflict.
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About Eucalyptus:
- It is a fast-growing evergreen tree native to Australia.
- Use: The eucalyptus tree oil is used as an antiseptic, a perfume, as a flavoring, in dental preparations and in industrial solvents.
- Distinctive Trait: It is adapted to grow in a wide range of climatic regimes or soil types and grows rapidly and establishes itself easily; etc.
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About Eco-Restoration
- Refers: It is the process of reclaiming habitat and ecosystem functions by restoring the lands and waters on which plants and animals depend.
- Aim: It aims to initiate or accelerate ecosystem recovery by creating conditions for plants, animals and microorganisms to carry out the recovery process themselves.
- It is not a one-time activity and continues as the ecosystem recovers and matures.
- Involves: Restoration is a corrective step that involves eliminating or modifying causes of ecological degradation and re-establishing the natural processes like natural fires, floods, or predator-prey relationships that sustain and renew ecosystems over time.
- Actions: It may involve actions like removing invasive species, reintroducing lost species or functions, altering landforms, planting vegetation, changing hydrology and reintroducing wildlife.
- Practices: Reforestation and afforestation, wetlands restoration, river and stream restoration, peatland restoration, replanting mangroves and transplanting corals, etc.
- India’s Initiatives:
- Sundarbans Mangrove Restoration
- National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems (NPCA)
- National Mission for a Green India (GIM)
- Western Ghats Forest Landscape Restoration
- Green Wall
- National Afforestation Programme (NAP)
- National Biodiversity Action Plan
- Significance:
- Biodiversity Conservation: It helps to conserve biodiversity by providing species with the conditions they need to thrive.
- Climate Change Mitigation: It can sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (such as forests, peatlands and mangroves), thereby helping to mitigate climate change.
- Ecosystem Services: Healthier ecosystems, with richer biodiversity, yield greater benefits such as more fertile soils, bigger yields of timber and fish, and larger stores of greenhouse gases.
- It can help us to achieve all of the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Economic Benefits: The economic benefits of such interventions exceed nine times the cost of investment, whereas inaction is at least three times more costly than ecorestoration.
- It can help in creating jobs like planting trees, managing protected areas and eco-tourism. Also, it can support local economies through improved agriculture, fisheries, and forestry.
- Challenges:
- Technical Challenges: Selection of appropriate native species, determining the best methods for re-establishing those species and managing invasive species.
- Funding: These actions can be expensive and require sustained funding for over long periods as ecosystems can take years or even decades to recover fully.
- Need To Do:
- Social Considerations: Any restoration action must consider the needs and rights of local communities, ensuring that restoration efforts also support local livelihoods.
- There is a need to ensure the involvement of local communities in planning and implementation.
- Adequate Funding: To attain success, there is a need to secure ongoing funding and gain political support.
- Monitoring: Careful monitoring, and evaluation to assess progress is the need of the hour.
- Time has come to ensure that restoration goals are met and that the ecosystem can sustain itself in the long term.
- Restoration vs Conservation: Restoration is not a substitute for conservation. While it can restore biodiversity, structure, and function to ecosystems, it should not be used to justify destruction or unsustainable use.
- It may not succeed in re-establishing the full assemblage of native species or the full extent of the original ecosystem’s structure and function.
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About the UN Decade on Eco-Restoration:
- Declaration: The UN General Assembly has declared 2021–2030 a UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
- A global call to action, the UN Decade draws together political support, scientific research, and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration.
- Led by: The UNEP and the FAO, together with the support of partners to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide.
- Aim: Reviving billions of hectares, covering terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems.
About the UN World Restoration Flagships:
- Appreciation: With the World Restoration Flagships, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is honoring the best examples of large-scale and long-term ecosystem restoration in any country or region, embodying the 10 Restoration Principles of the UN Decade.
- Monitoring: Progress of all World Restoration Flagships will be transparently monitored through the Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring, the UN Decade’s platform for keeping track of global restoration efforts.
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May 28, 2024