Context: An award-winning scientist at the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore, Kannan Warrier was conferred the National Award of excellence for outstanding research in forestry, including conservation of endangered sacred groves in the Alappuzha district of Kerala.

About the award

• The award also recognises his research on Casuarina (savukku) trees.
• This award is conferred by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE).
• ICFRE is an apex body in the national forestry research system. ICFRE was recently declared as the Centre for Excellence in addressing issues related to land degradation by the Prime Minister.

Eligibility:

• These awards shall be given for original and outstanding notable work/research contribution in the fields of (a) Forest Education (b) Forest Research (c) Forest Extension.
• Only Indian citizens are eligible for these awards
• An institution, team of scientists or individual once awarded for their/its work shall not be eligible for this award a second time

Casuarinas

• They are a versatile group of plants with wide-ranging adaptability to grow in different environments.
• They fix atmospheric nitrogen through a symbiotic association with the bacteria.

Uses

• India is the largest planter of casuarina in the world.
• The tree pulp goes into the paper-making industry.
• Casuarina stems find use as fabrication material in scaffolding work, and are also used to safeguard banana plantations from the wind.
• Of late it is also a preferred choice for biomass-based power generation.

About Sacred groves

• Sacred groves refer to a piece of natural vegetation that is protected by a certain community due to religious reasons. The area is usually dedicated to a local deity.
• As a result, local communities tend to take responsibility to protect and nurture the area. The groves are also looked after by joint families who fear the wrath of the resident god.
• It could be only a few trees or an entire forest.

They are called by different names

• In India, there are over a lakh sacred groves across different states. They go by different names like koyil kaadu in Tamil, orans in Rajasthan, devara kaadu in Karnataka, and sernas in Madhya Pradesh.
• They are called kavu in Malayalam.
• In Himachal Pradesh, people dust their clothes off when they cross the groves to ensure that they leave everything behind.
• Such religious beliefs strengthen protection measures.

Significance

• The sacred groves shelter medicinal plants of great value not only for the primary health care of the village communities, but also for the modern pharmacopoeia.
• The groves harbour certain wild crop relatives and other endemic biotas.
• They act as micro-watersheds and meet the drinking and irrigation water needs of the local communities.

Threats

• Due to several socio-economic and cultural reasons, the traditional belief systems, which were fundamental to the concept of sacred grove conservation, are now considered mere superstitions. The traditional values appear to be gradually eroding with the advent of modernity and urbanization.
• Invasion of exotic weeds into sacred groves has become a serious problem in the ecological functioning of some sacred groves.
• Today, with the fast pace of industrialization, roads and highways are being widened for smooth vehicular movement. In the process, some sacred groves, which are on the edge of the village, near highway areas, have been reduced to less than half their size.
• The increase in the number of construction of new buildings in the place of ancestral homes, which used to house sacred groves in its premises, has virtually led to the destruction of this biodiversity system.
• In several areas, the land on which sacred groves are located is not declared as forestland and thus is not protected by the government. It is owned by individual persons, families, clans who would have converted them into agricultural land for the purpose of cultivation.