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https://apnews.com/article/tea-restoration-native-plants-climate-change-25adeaf034873ce3035530275daa3ca2>
"UDHAGAMANDALAM, India (
AP) — Scattered groves of native trees, flowers and
the occasional prehistoric burial ground are squeezed between hundreds of
thousands of tea shrubs in southern India’s Nilgiris region — a gateway to a
time before colonization and the commercial growing of tea that reshaped the
country’s mountain landscapes.
These sacred groves once blanketed the Western Ghats mountains, but nearly 200
years ago, British colonists installed rows upon rows of tea plantations. The
few groves that stand today are either protected by Indigenous communities who
preserve them for their faith and traditions, or are being grown and tended
back into existence by ecologists who remove tea trees from disused farms and
plant seeds native to this biodiverse region. It takes decades, but their
efforts are finally starting to see results as forests flourish despite
ecological damage and wilder weather caused by climate change.
The teams bringing back the forests — home to more than 600 native plants and
150 animal species found only here — know that they still need to work around
their neighbors. Nearly everyone in the region’s more than 700,000-strong
population either farms black, green and white tea or works with the almost 3
million tourists who come to escape the searing heat of the Indian plains.
“In this time of climate change, I think ecological restoration and rewilding
is extremely important,” said Godwin Vasanth Bosco, a Nilgiris-based naturalist
and restoration practitioner. “What we’re trying to do is to help nature
restore itself.”"
Via
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Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
