Honoring native species: Restoring forgotten forests in the Western Ghats
I grew up in Hyderabad, a sprawling urban city in India, where my home was a green oasis surrounded by buildings. My grandmother, with her simple yet ingenious techniques like using crushed eggshells, dried banana peels and more, grew a variety of plants, turning our home into a thriving space for greenery and birds. This early connection with nature sparked my passion for sustainable living and led me to explore agriculture. For much of my life,– an ancient mountain range formed over 150 million years ago, the Western Ghats are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.
This area is home to over 5,000 species of flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species, 179 amphibian species and 288 freshwater fish species with many species endemic to this region.
At this point in my journey, I had become deeply passionate about biodiversity conservation and started small-scale projects like fruit forests, butterfly parks and mini forest patches through my startup, ‘Prakheti,’ to restore degraded lands. Working with various local communities shaped my knowledge of native and Indigenous tree varieties, which were crucial in building forest patches that blended with the local landscape.
My journey to Wayanad and the Western Ghats
Starting in 2021, I spent more than three years working on different landscapes spanning four states in India, understanding biodiversity through community engagement and observing numerous forests along the way. Eventually, my work led me back to the Western Ghats, specifically to the lush green forests of Wayanad, where I worked with a local NGO to support farmers in conserving agrobiodiversity.
Wayanad holds a special place in my heart, and it became my home for nearly a year. It is one of the few places where I felt like any other organism in a forest, where nature, wildlife and people coexist seamlessly. The region is home to numerous Indigenous communities who depend on these forests for survival, and their knowledge is critical in understanding how the landscape and biodiversity have evolved over time.
During my time in Wayanad, I had the opportunity to visit the region’s protected forests, which consist mostly of moist and dry deciduous trees and receive abundant rainfall during the monsoon season. These forests are part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, one of the most important forest regions in the country, spread across the three states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. They also serve as corridors for the seasonal migration of wild animals.
There is one sight that I remember the most from my field visit deep inside these protected forests – trees bearing bright yellow flowers dominating the landscape. As I walked further, I saw numerous cut-down trees of the same species sprouting back. This tree was the Senna spectabilis.
Invasive species and plantation crops
Senna spectabilis, or the golden shower tree, as it is popularly called because of its bright yellow flowers, was first planted in Wayanad over 25 years ago. However, the Kerala Forest Department recognized it as an invasive species in 2011. Senna is no longer only a Wayanad problem. It is now a problem across the three South Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka because of how difficult it is to be eradicated. With no natural predators and no animals consuming it, Senna has taken over vast forest patches. When cut down or girdled, it quickly regenerates, making eradication extremely difficult. A forest ranger once told me, “Forest rangers were once focused on tigers, but now senna is the biggest menace.”
The decline of native trees, grasses and shrubs has allowed invasive species like senna to dominate, leading to severe consequences for local biodiversity, forest ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
Wild animals, particularly elephants, struggle to find food, pushing them into settlements and increasing human-wildlife conflict. For many local communities, the loss of native grasses like Cymbopogon flexuosus (lemongrass) means fewer resources for fodder, traditional medicine and materials for crafts or housing. This experience is a harsh reminder that not all green cover indicates a healthy forest.
Today, our forests are increasingly dominated by plantation crops like teak, invasive species like senna, and exotic trees like silver oak, which are changing our ecosystems and threatening the balance between people, wildlife and nature.
Shifting focus to ecosystem restoration
Seeing the disruption of invasive species prompted me to shift my focus to ecosystem restoration using native trees. It is no longer enough to just plant trees, we need to ensure that restoration efforts blend with the diverse landscapes of the region.
Working with local NGOs and communities, I also learned about many rare, endangered and threatened (RET) tree species endemic to the Western Ghats. Some of these species hold cultural significance, while others provide wild edible fruits essential for local communities and wildlife. These RETs, along with other native trees, provide an opportunity to restore and enrich our forests, and their benefits extend to broader issues faced in the landscape.
Various communities in Wayanad are conserving over 100 species of RET trees in different small-scale nurseries. Unfortunately, the degradation of ecosystem services or the extinction of these species remains unnoticed or rarely spoken about or addressed as compared to other climate crises.
Despite the availability of scientific research highlighting the benefits of native and RET species, their integration into afforestation and restoration projects remains minimal. This points to a lack of awareness, missing policy links and limited access to seedlings of these species that prevent seamless adoption of these species in conservation efforts. There is an urgent need to increase species richness and build biodiversity based on community knowledge.
The project: restoration, communication and collaboration
Through my project, I aim to restore landscapes with native and RET species while engaging communities in conservation efforts. I also hope to use this model to encourage greater integration of native species into restoration projects led by various stakeholders. The project is built on three key objectives:
- Restoration: Implementing ecosystem restoration by planting native and RET species in the Western Ghats, working alongside local communities. This includes creating small-scale conservation projects such as sacred groves, which integrate RET and native species into culturally significant forest patches.
- Communication: Building a mini forest with school children using native and RET species. This will serve as an educational tool to teach young people about forestry, native biodiversity and local landscapes.
- Collaboration: Partnering with different stakeholders, including private organizations and NGOs, to integrate native species into their projects. Additionally, working with community nurseries to raise seedlings of endangered plant varieties, generate more livelihoods and provide seedlings to more stakeholders.
With the support of the Restoration Stewards program and mentorship, I hope to scale the impact of this project. By building awareness and implementing practical solutions, we can restore native landscapes, enrich our forests and strengthen the role of local communities in conservation.
Restoring forests is not just about planting trees, but it’s about rebuilding ecosystems that work with the landscape, not against it. There is an urgent need to move beyond plantation-based afforestation and shift towards ecological restoration that addresses the complexity, heritage and unique aspects of our forests.
Over the years, I’ve learned that true restoration isn’t just about replacing lost green cover, but about understanding what belongs, what thrives and what sustains both biodiversity and local communities. Through this project, I want to restore native and RET species not as isolated patches of greenery, but as part of a living, breathing landscape that supports people, wildlife and the forests themselves.
A landscape approach is key to this effort. Restoration should not be fragmented but interconnected, ensuring that native species are connected into the broader ecological and cultural fabric of the region. That means working alongside communities to create sacred groves, collaborating with schools to reconnect young people with native biodiversity and bridging the gap between science, policy and on-ground action. The knowledge to do this already exists, but we need the commitment to put it into practice.
This project is one step, but I know all the work cannot be done alone. With the right support and shared vision, we can create restoration models that don’t just regenerate landscapes but also empower the people who depend on them. All we need to do is start observing and understanding the landscapes around us.
If someone like me, who grew up in a city, can find a path toward restoring forests in Wayanad, then there are many ways for each of us, wherever we come from and whatever our background, to care for and reconnect with our local landscapes. Let’s restore, conserve and learn together, in ways that are centered around our communities and future generations.
