Page 1 of 3

Statement by the Forest Group

(25 September 2024)

After having read the article “A challenging and controversial task: the work of the

Governing Board-appointed Funds and Assets Management Committee” in the Auroville

Today Issue No. 422, in particular Torkil's perspective regarding the Auroville Forest Group,

we would like to include a response in this edition of Auroville Today. Ideally, this rejoinder

would have been published in the same issue, as the article presents a singular viewpoint

and omits important information and facts, however we hadn’t been informed beforehand.

Quoted passage from the interview:

[Alan:]

No doubt, the FAMC has to deal with financial shortfalls as well as abuses. The

question is if it is being done in the best possible way. Your work has resulted in

much pain and social disruption, and the impact has not only been financial but

also social, and this has extended far beyond Auroville. For example, the decision

to cut the foresters’ maintenances resulted in many forest employees from the

villages being laid off. Many of these workers had worked all their lives in Auroville

and they are too old to find other jobs, even though their families rely upon their

income. From a strictly economic point of view there may be too many

maintenances for the amount of forest, but isn’t the financial and social cost of cuts

like these disproportionate?

[Torkil:]

After talking to the government forest department people the conclusion was we need

perhaps

12 - 18 people to steward our forests, whereas more than 100 maintenances

and staff salaries were

being paid. This was because historically the focus was on planting the forest. But that was

many years ago and, like so many other things in Auroville, this situation just ‘froze’ and

was never adapted to the present need. There were a number of attempts to get a meeting

with the Forest Group to discuss this, but they refused, saying they did not want to discuss

any change. A conflict like this has no good ending. The administration was left with only

two options: to surrender or cut the funding, so we cut the money. I don’t think it should

have ended like this. It ended up as a stupid situation, a black and white story, which

nobody wanted.

Firstly we would like to point out that the initial question only hints at the fact that the

GB-appointed FAMC has for the past 15 months refused to release money for the gratuity

payments towards the 60 employed forest workers who had been laid off with a one-week

notice in July 2023. Gratuity payments for employees who have worked at one workplace

for 20+ years are, even if in some cases not a legal, at least an ethical obligation for the

employer.

Secondly, the Forest Group never stated anything in the line that “the group does not want

to discuss any change”, this is entirely fictitious. However this quoted accusation had

Page 2 of 3

already been stated in an email by the GB-appointed FAMC to a few individual Forest

Group members on June 21, 2023 informing them about the cut of maintenances and

forest budget from July onwards. Admittedly communication with the GB-appointed FAMC

has been laborious from the moment of their questionable appointment in June 2022.

Last but not least we would like to comment on the alleged estimation by the government

forest department regarding management of the current Auroville forests. It has to be

pointed out that there is no single comparable reforestation project in India run by any

government- or non-government organization. Reforestation of degraded land with

indigenous plant species, a focus on maximizing bio diversity and recreating a severely

endangered vegetation type, paired with water conservation and the keeping of nurseries

and seed banks as is done in Auroville is absolutely unique. The fact that the Forest Group

for the past 40 years has not been working with the mindset of an organization but rather

that of a collective is the very reason for its success. In fact over the years many forest

department officers have visited the Auroville forests in awe, eager to learn from Auroville

foresters’ experiences.

The main reason for the outstanding success of the reforestation efforts done in Auroville

over the past 50 years is the unique community supported long-standing ability and

dedication to protect and manage its forest plantation areas. Fence lines of Auroville

forests are unusually long due to the fragmentation of Auroville lands. And fences are

indispensable for successful reforestation as the keeping out of cattle, goats and other

destructive elements is key.

To a layman’s eye it might seem that the reforestation in Auroville is completed by now and

all that’s left to do for the forester is to watch the trees grow. Far from that. Most tall trees

we find in our forests today are pioneer trees which only create the environment needed

for the slow-growing indigenous species to flourish. Most of those species haven’t reached

their maturity yet and (inter-) planting of indigenous saplings is continuously done by the

Forest Group up until now.

Photo > Young and density reforested area in Auroville

In conclusion, the unsubstantiated claim that the 1200+ acres of forested Auroville land

could be managed by 12 – 18 people completely disregards the proven successful method

of reforestation carried out by a long line of dedicated and passionate community

members. In the light of various development projects taking place in forested areas of

Auroville since the maintenance and budget cut in July 2023 (Outer Ring Road through

Silence, Miracle, Revelation, Espace, Baraka; bridge construction in Darkali; clearing for

PTDC outlet and car parking in Bliss; clearing for Matrimandir-Lake-Soil-Hill and access

roads in the northern forests including the NFA sanctuary) it seems that the true intentions

behind the abrupt cut of funds for the Forest Group were not only economical, as

suggested by Torkil, but rather a strategic move to discredit, discourage and silence the

voice of the Forest Group; just another brick in the wall of fabricated false narrative to

justify current developments while suppressing community participation.

It is clear that the agenda of the GB-appointed FAMC clashes with the Forest Group’s

ecological vision for Auroville’s green spaces. We are hopeful that a healthy combination

of ecology and economy paired with common sense, respect for the collective, ethical

Page 3 of 3

behavior and solidarity will prevail in the City the Earth Needs.

The Forest Group of the Residents’ Assembly of the Auroville Foundation