Context: The district administration of Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu along with Bengaluru-based non-profit Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) are using a ‘hyper local’ approach to restore Thamirabarani River.

About Thamirabarani River

• Thamirabarani is the only perennial river in Tamil Nadu. 

• It originates in the Pothigai Hills of the Western Ghats in Tirunelveli district. 

• The river flows through Tirunelveli and then neighbouring Thoothukudi and ends in the Gulf of Mannar at Punakayil. It thus originates and ends in the same state.

Significance: The river supports wildlife such as the Nilgiri marten, slender loris, lion-tailed macaque, white spotted bush frog, galaxy frog, Sri Lankan Atlas moth and the great hornbill.

• Besides the ecosystem services it provides, the river also has historical value for the people of the state. It is mentioned extensively in Sangam Era literature.

Threats: The river is stressed because of industrial effluent release, sewage and water hyacinth. Initial study suggests that the river gets polluted due to industrial discharge and the dumping of solid waste, especially in the form of clothes and flowers by devotees.

TamiraSES project

• Launched by: District administration of Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu along with Bengaluru-based non-profit ATREE.

• Aim: To restore the Social Ecological Systems of the Tamiraparani riverscape from head-waters to the estuary to enable conditions for native biodiversity to thrive and maintain and enhance multiple ecosystem services to local stakeholders.

• Five social ecological observatories will be set up as part of the first phase of the project. These will serve as pilots to scale up from the learnings from these sites.

• The idea is to rejuvenate not just the Thamirabarani but all the water bodies in the riverscape of Tirunelveli.