CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) to draft a policy within two weeks on using Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds for removing invasive species, especially Lantana camara, from forest areas.
The high court bench of Justices N Sathish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy accepted the status report submitted by the forest department on removal of Senna spectabilis in Mudumalai and Satyamangalam tiger reserves with the help of Tamil Nadu Paper Limited.
Chief wildlife warden Srinivas R Reddy, who was present in the court, told TNIE : “Among all other invasive species, Lantana is most problematic and requires huge sums of money for removal and disposal.
We will shortly draft a policy and approach the corporate houses to consider allocating their CSR funds for removal of invasives.” Tamil Nadu, including the Western Ghats, is among the chief invasion hotspots in the country. A recent compendium of plants of Tamil Nadu recorded a total of 6,723 taxa (species), 2,459 are non-native alien species, comprising nearly 36.6% of the state’s flora.