THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Technology is set to change the course of conservation of scared groves in the state. A project jointly carried out by Digital University of Kerala (DUK) and Environmental Resources Research Centre (ERRC) for the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences has created an Android-based mobile application – named ‘Sacred Groves’ – and a web-based dashboard powered by Geospatial Technology with mapped data of all the sacred groves (kavus) in Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Kottayam districts. The report of the R&D project will be submitted to the Ministry soon.
The three districts were selected as they represent a cross-section of the state’s geographical terrain, covering coastal lowlands, midlands and highlands.
Besides, Alappuzha is the only district in the state with no forest cover, but is unusually home to many endemic and endangered plant and tree species particularly associated with sacred groves.
“We selected groves covering an area of five cents or more as this would lead to actionable interference,” Dr T Radhakrishnan T, professor of geospatial analytics at DUK, told TNIE.
"The study analysed vegetation, floral composition, diversity and estimated the carbon storage of individual groves. We also assessed spatial changes using multi-temporal satellite imagery,” he said.
According to the study, of the 738 sacred groves in the three districts, 369 have adequate vegetation cover. A total of 561 species were recorded including 206 trees, 108 shrubs, 132 climbers and 115 herbs) Animal species were not covered in the study. A total of 62 endemic species were also recorded.
A total of 174 recorded species figure on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red list Threatened species.
The study spotted several conservation significantspecies such as Syzygiumtravancoricum, which is considered critically endangered. Species like Myristica fatua var. magnifica, and Anacolosadensiflora are categorised as endangered while, Vateria indica, Hopeaponga, and Hopea parviflora are considered vulnerable.
The mobile app identifies the groves in the three districts, the trees, shrubs, climbers, their scientific and local names, and the endemic & endangered species. The study commenced in Alappuzha in 2019 and was completed in January 2023.
“We found very rare species in a sacred grove associated with the Kanoor Durgadevi temple,” retired Principal Scientist and Deputy Director at ERRC Dr. P.K.Shaji said. However, as part of the national highway development a portion of the sacred grove adjacent to the road was destroyed and this particular species became extinct in its type locality. " We also foundseveral other important trees including Myristica malabrica (kattu jathi), an endemic species,” he said.
At the Mannarassala Nagaraja temple, nearly 50 species of trees were identified. The research also revealed that many sacred groves are being destroyed for land and to facilitate construction. “In some cases after the family property is divided, the person in possession of the groves decides to invoke the power of the deity and move it to some other place,” he said.
"At Vettikottu Nagaraja temple, in Alappuzha district we happened to see such deities being placed in a separate corner of the sacred grove. After that they cut the trees and use it for other purposes,” Shaji said.
Myristica freshwater swamp species like Myristica fatua, Myristica malabrica, and Gymnacrantheracanarica were also found in isolation in a few sacred grovesas part of the research project.