Collaboration with TNPL to reclaim 493 hectares of forest land

Last week, Supriya Sahu shared a post on her X handle (https://twitter.com/supriyasahuias/status/1725014440020721727) that said, “The area you see in the video was covered with a toxic invasive weed about a year ago. Now it has lush green grass providing food to Gaurs, elephants, deer and other animals.” Sahu added, "One of the biggest threats to forests and wildlife around the world is from toxic invasives which are taking over our forests like wildfire. Urgent action is needed to remove these to safeguard forest biodiversity."

Sahu mentioned, "In Tamil Nadu, we have successfully reclaimed 493-hectares of pristine forest land from Senna spectabilis, a toxic invasive weed which kills native vegetation. In a collaborative effort, the Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Paper has taken out around 21,178 tonnes of the weed from the forest areas of Mudhumalai Tiger Reserve and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve. This has been converted to 6000 MT of printing and writing paper.”

This, Sahu said, means nearly 15 species of grass and five species of legumes have been found coming up from the area where Senna has been cleared now. A wild rice variety that was not reported from Mudumalai has also been found. We are absolutely delighted to see our forests coming alive."

Supriya Sahu said, "We are also removing lantana in a big way."

In fact, recognising the ongoing environment-related work in Tamil Nadu, the Union government has selected three projects being implemented in the state for discussion at the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP28) to be held in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December. Totally, seven projects have been hand-picked by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for the global event. This includes the Meendum Manjappai campaign, which launched in 2021. The aim: to promote the use of cloth bags and discourage the use of plastic bags, has made significant headway.

In this regard, Supriya Sahu said, "We have installed 92 manjappai vending machines. We have intensified enforcement of the ban on single use plastics (SUP)."

As per media reports, a total of 5.75-lakh raids were conducted by the Tamil Nadu authorities, 560-tonnes of SUP were seized, and Rs 7.2-crore fine has been collected.