CHENNAI: The lush green Kolli Hills ecology is at risk, as the hills are losing out its sacred groves due to encroachment of commercial crops as well as invasion of alien weeds, warn experts.
“More than 235 sacred groves in Kolli Hills have degraded and only 35 scared forest cover still remain,” said principal scientist and site coordinator of M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, E D Israel Oliver King.
The sacred grove in Thuvarapallam village in Kolli Hills which has a small rivulet flowing by the side may be a pleasant sight to watch but King says that the forest patch is slowly dying. As villagers highlight the importance of the shrine of local deity Pongal Ayee Amman, King says that traditional belief and value systems supporting sustainable management of natural resources and their conservation has disintegrated.
The encroachment due to commercial agricultural crops like tapioca, invasion of alien weeds such as lantana camera, parthenium hysterophorus which replaces the plants, besides natural falling of old lofty trees and poor regeneration of wild saplings are some of the reasons for the dwindling of the sacred forest cover.
“Once a 100-year-old tree falls down in the grove, then weeds invade the grove and it is difficult to re-generate the ecosystem,” says King.
Known as Sami solai (sacred forest), they are found in the midst of varying agro ecosystems, forest boundaries on hilltops and slopes distributed across the geographical area of Kolli Hills.
The grove size ranges from one hectare to five hectares. King says that sacred groves of Kolli Hills harbour several rare and endangered species of Eastern Ghats like Myrstica dactyloides, Gaertner, Persea macrantha (Nees) Kostern, Philicium decipens etc.These forest patches have been conserved by Malayali tribal community through community control mechanism by evolving several taboos and restrictions and serve as a source of perennial water for nearby agriculture systems, he says.
King has a plan to regenerate the sacred groves but says it would require a huge investment from the government. “This will require replanting of native species and also requires local participation. The irony is that people don’t see the sacred grove as commercially viable as such native species are dying,” says King, who has nearly 20 years of experience in studying the Kolli Hills.
Former MLA and chairman of Senthamnagalam panchayat union Chandrasekhar said that the planting of non native species like silver oak is posing a threat to ecology as they consume more water unlike the native species which hold water and serve as a perennial water source.
There has been suggestions to develop a people biodiversity register for sacred groves into a database or network of databases to help various stakeholders including panchayats, schools and college access information and recognise the stake holders for conservation effort. But it also requires government effort to conserve the ancient way of in situ conversation of biological and genetic diversity.
forest Guardian
■ Ancient Tamil epics Silapadikaram and Manimekalai refer to Kollipavai, the deity in the sacred grove, who is also considered the guardian of the forests
■ In Ramayana, Kolli hills are called madhuvanam (forest of honey), the abode of Sugreeva
■ Tamil Sangam literature claims that Kolli Hills was once ruled by the benevolent and most valiant King Ori, who lived some time during 200 AD
■ Conservation of sacred groves is practised by the lower strata of social order
■ The deity worshipped by the people is usually represented by a stone kept under a robust tree or in the open space without any shelter and unprotected