Report filed by the Forest and Wildlife Department, Kerala on forest conservation and management, 28/03/2025
Report filed by the Forest and Wildlife Department, Kerala in the matter of Tribunal on its own motion Suo Motu based on the news item published in the Hindu, Chennai edition paper dated 30/07/2024 titled "Wayanad landslides live updates: 54 killed, over 100 feared missing in Kerala hill station; relief operations delayed" Vs Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change & Others. The report is dated March 28, 2025.
The NGT directed the submissions of a report detailing the root cause of the landslide, including an assessment of factors such as quarrying activities, commercial building construction, other construction activities and natural calamities. By order dated September 27, 2024, the National Green Tribunal impleaded the Forest and Wildlife Department, Kerala and directed the submission of an independent report regarding afforestation, encroachment action taken. The court was informed that exotic plantations of eucalyptus, acacia, wattle were planted by the Kerala Forest Department for industrial purposes in the 1960s. It was to cater to the demands of the industries at that time. An extent of 7622.0410 ha eucalyptus and 1758.210 ha of wattle plantations are at present in the forests of Kerala.
With the changing perspective of forest management, the department has now embarked upon phasing out exotic monoculture plantations due to their ecological incompatibility. There is no planting of exotic species being carried out in the forests of Kerala now. The planting of wattle was stopped since 1992, that of acacia auriculiformis, Acacia mangium since 2018 and of eucalyptus since 2019.
As per government oerde, December 17, 2021, Kerala has approved the eco-restoration policy. The policy cover all of the exotic monoculture plantations of eucalyptus, acacia and wattle in the forests for their phased removal and consequent restoration to natural state or planted with suitable indigenous species. It envisages the eradication of the exotics and the eco-restoration of these areas over the next two decades.
"The Wayanad landscape is fragile and the landslide is a result of multiple factors such as the terrain, the preparatory circumstances (previous instances of soil piping) and the trigger which was the high rainfall recorded in the preceding couple of days. It cannot be therfore be surmised that the landslide is a result of the encroachments that area identified within the area".