Shalini, a resident in Anna Nagar-a settlement in Kookalthorai- identified a plot in front of her village for restoration. She has been working with Keystone Foundation as a steward for over a year. When she is not involved in restoration efforts, she works with other stewards from the area to identify and support farmers to convert to organic farming.
The area identified by her was earlier covered with invasive plants such as Lantana camara and Parthenium hysterophorus-providing an ideal resting spot for wildlife-especially leopards and bears. As the name suggests, invasive plants, shrubs, or trees are flora that is not found in the region but have been introduced at some point. Their invading nature is to utilize available space and resources, leaving little or none for native plants to grow. Knowing very well that the children of the village play close to this area, Shalini came up with an idea to clear this land of overgrown invasive shrubs and plant native ones through community participation.
Once the invasives were cleared, the area was landscaped with native plants such as Shoe flowers and Plectranthus barbatus. Shoe flowers are planted as a hedge plant on the fringes of the plot, playing a role of a bio fence. And Plectranthus barbatus are planted inside-attracting bees with their flowers. Shalini has a plan to set up an information board that will encourage people-especially children- to take ownership of this area and maintain it. Here is Shalini’s video about the restoration work being done in Anna Nagar-Kookalthorai.
By Nayantara Lakshman
