The Live Ahmedabad
  • Home
  • Ahd City
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Education
  • Crime
  • Health
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Featured

The Live Ahmedabad

  • Home
  • Ahd City
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Education
  • Crime
  • Health
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Featured
Gujarat

Gujarat battles invasive tree species while restoring the Banni grasslands

by TLAteam July 6, 2022July 6, 2022
written by TLAteam July 6, 2022July 6, 2022
Gujarat battles invasive tree species while restoring the Banni grasslands

The Gujarat Forest Department intends to restore 10,000 hectares of Banni grasslands this year and for the next decade.

The state intends to restore at least 76,000 hectares of this 2,497 sq km grassland, which is rich in biodiversity; it has already restored 10,000 hectares in recent years.

The Banni grassland was also flagged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his keynote speech at the United Nations High Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought last year, as part of India’s endeavour to reach the target of restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.

Forest officials say that while the project was begun in 2015-16, work took off in a major way only last year.

The grasslands of Gujarat constitute about 4.33 per cent (8,490 sq km) of the total geographical area, distributed in eight districts and three different climatic regions — Kutch, Saurashtra and central Gujarat. A majority of grasslands in Gujarat (41 per cent) are found in the Kutch district. Banni grassland was declared a Protected Forest in 1955, under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.

Besides having 40 species of grass and 99 species of flowering plants, Banni is also home to the Indian wolf, jackal, Indian fox, desert fox, desert cat, caracal, hyena, chinkara, Nilgai, wild boar, Indian hare, common monitor lizard — and the cheetah before it became extinct. Banni also has 273 bird species and in years of good rainfall, is home to thousands of migratory birds.

Forest department officials have said that over the years, the landscape of Banni has shown drastic changes with the deterioration of the grassland taking place due to “heavy uncontrolled grazing”, widespread ingress of Prosopis Juliflora (a harmful exotic tree species), dams constructed on rivers flowing towards Banni, periodic occurrence of droughts and continuous increase in soil salinity.

“On analysis of the data over last four decades, it was found that in the year 1989, the area was dominated with grasslands covering 54.57 per cent of the area followed by saline areas devoid of vegetation or sparsely distributed vegetation covering 27.30 per cent and Prosopis Juliflora, an alien invasive species, covering only 15.72 per cent of the area. The Land Use Land Cover (LULC) assessment of the grassland over a 10 years interval revealed that grassland areas over the period gradually reduced while in the same period Prosopis Juliflora dominant area increased… encroached to more than 30 per cent. Therefore, within a gap of 20 years, the Prosopis Juliflora dominant areas doubled in Banni,” stated the project proposal of the Gujarat forest department.

With a huge 20-lakh livestock population that depends on the grassland, the second part of the project envisions the production and storing of fodder for local farming and pastoral communities that live here. There are 48 villages that live inside the Banni grasslands. This part of fodder production by the forest department has become a cause of grave concern for environmentalists and ecologists in the area.

Dr Kumar says multiple species are planted in one patch and only indigenous species of grasses are used.

Ecologist Dr Ankila Hiremath, who has worked in Banni since 2012, says the forest department action is unnecessary and can even prove to me harmful. “In our experience in restoring parts of Banni, we have found that simply removing Prosopis Juliflora is sufficient, and the indigenous grasses grow back naturally. Moreover, many wildlife species started returning once this tree was removed. The planting of grasses, by furrowing the land, can actually be harmful as the roots of the indigenous grasses remain despite the invasive species – but if you furrow the land, you are removing the grass roots as well,” she said.

Sandeep Virmani of Hunnarshala, who works with pastoralists living in Banni, says the milk produced because of this diversity of grasses eaten by the Banni buffalo is unique and, therefore, in demand.

“The grasslands have native trees like Acacia nilotica, Salvadora persica and Capparis decidua which are protected under Section 26 in the Indian Forest Act, 1927. These have been destroyed to grow fodder. Banni has sensitive soil ecology where the sweet soil rests on salinity only 2 to 3 metres below the ground and any disturbance of the soil brings up salinity destroying the rich productivity of the land,” Virmani said.

AhmedabadAhmedabad cityAhmedabad newsGujaratGujarat news
0 comment
previous post
Chopper makes dangerous landing on Amarnath Yatra route, DGCA orders probe
next post
BNI Ahmedabad to organise Sicilian Doctors Conclave on July 9

You may also like

Over 1,900 vacant positions in medical colleges and hospitals...

March 29, 2023

Gujarat athlete wins gold medal in Cambodia but...

March 29, 2023

Amazon announces Propel Startup Accelerator Season 3, to...

March 28, 2023

HC orders medical colleges to return PG student’s...

March 27, 2023

Three-day National Level Tech Competition at NFSU has...

March 27, 2023

DGFT joint director commits suicide in Rajkot just...

March 25, 2023

Gandhinagar couple duped out of 33 lakhs under the...

March 25, 2023

Gujarat police raid 17 jails in the state...

March 25, 2023

Gujarat Assembly informed the GoI that no proposal...

March 24, 2023

A lion is chased away by a pack...

March 24, 2023

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Recent Posts

  • Trains were diverted and cancelled due to yard remodelling between Bhusaval and Bhadli in the Bhusaval Division

    March 29, 2023
  • High-Speed Rail from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, Rs 18,750 crore loan agreement has been signed

    March 29, 2023
  • Anushka Sharma is the “first owner of copyrights” to her performances and must pay the following tax: Bombay HC Sales Tax Department

    March 29, 2023
  • Indigo cabin crew cleans inebriated passenger’s vomit, photo goes viral

    March 29, 2023
  • Metro to operate extra hours for IPL and roads will be closed on March 31

    March 29, 2023
July 2022
M T W T F S S
« Jun   Aug »
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
Footer Logo
  • Home
  • Ahd City
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Education
  • Crime
  • Health
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Featured
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Advertise with Us
  • Work With Us
  • Contact Us

© 2021 - The Live Ahmedabad. All Rights Reserved.