The Government High School in Milidhane near Kotagiri, has initiated a community-driven programme to restore a patch of reserve forest with native flora, which has been taken over by invasive species.
The community, the school’s green corps, organisations such as Karuvi Foundation, Niligiri Natural History Society (NNHS), Kotagiri Citizens Collective, Upstream Ecology, Keystone Foundation, BERU Foundation and Milidhane Welfare Group plan to restore the native ecology to the forest patch by 2022.
The initiative was launched by District Forest Officer of Nilgiris Division D. Guruswamy recently. It began with students planting saplings of native species. A panel discussion on the initiative was also held at the school.
Shiny Rehel, a botanist working for the Keystone Foundation, spoke on the need for community participation in such initiatives, .
.
Vasanth Bosco from Upstream Ecology read a portion of his recently released book to the students and had a brief discussion with the students and community members.
The Headman of Milidhane Village Billan and honorary president of the parent-teacher association of the School, B.M. Raju promised total participation by the common people in the restoration project.