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Hochschule Weihenstephan-Triesdorf

The role of Acacia auriculiformis

Restoration of Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest

at the Coromandel Coast, South India:

BACHELOR THESIS

Author:

Supervisor:

Theresa Riedl

Submission date:

Jägerstraße 12

Freising, July 2012

85737 Ismaning

Prof. Dr. Jörg Ewald

Faculty of Forestry and Forestry

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2The information about the historical background in this chapter is based on an interview

with Jean Pouyet about the history of Auroville over the last four decades and on personal

communication with Patrick from Revelation about the treatments of the study sites.

Fig.4: Ravine at the Auroville plateau

3.5 History of study sites2

At the beginning of Auroville in the late 1960’s, the usual land use form was dry land

farming with two sowings a year. Land with no deep rooted vegetation which had been

plowed and therefore is of loose structure, is not able to absorb the heavy rains that are

occurring in that region a couple of times a year. As soon as the top soil was saturated,

the runoff started and was responsible for the transport of soil particles and the degradation

of the plateau, what impaired the conditions till the land was nerved by ravines (Fig.4) and

not suitable for agriculture anymore.

In the 1980’s, slowly the land got converted from dry land farming to Cashew plantations.

Cashew tree trees that are not as shallow rooted as the annual plants that were used in

dry land farming were attenuating the impact of the water, which meliorated the conditions

above the ground that otherwise would have been bare for months and trampled by a huge

amount of cattle that were herded by local people.

The afforestation efforts started in the early 1970’s when the early inhabitants of Auroville

tried to use small plantations of evergreen trees as windbreaks.

These attempts led to an enlargement of the planted areas, supported by the knowledge

of fast growing and drought resistant exotics that the Aurovillians had gained at that time.

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A majority of the survey plots are located in the Auroville community Revelation, where the

first attempts took place approximately in 1975/1976. Like in many other

But only since the 1980’s, the management of the forest was done consciously. Farming has

been clearly separated from the forest area. The sanctuary was extended and surrounded

by living fences to prevent cutting and grazing. Beside of that, many species have been

planted due to the aim to reintroduce native tree species that were not regenerating by

themselves at that time, like Diospyros ebenum or Mimusops elengi

communities, the first efforts were to plant fruit trees and to do agriculture. Beside of that, the

first big trees like Pterocarpus santalinus, Tectona grandis and Albizzia lebbeck

(Fig.5). Pictures of Revelation before and after the restoration are attached in

Appendix 1.

Fig.5: Tree nursery in Revelation

But the most important was the establishment of a sanctuary near the ravine, where the soil

was mostly eroded and therefore useless for agriculture.

were planted.

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