Thiruvananthapuram: Unscientific and poorly planned management of forests and protected areas could harm wildlife habitats and undermine natural regeneration, said P O Nameer, dean of the faculty of forestry at Kerala Agricultural University.He was speaking on ‘Status and Rising Tide of Threats on Keralam’s Wildlife in the Age of Growing Intolerance’ at Vanaspandanam, organised by Coexistence Collective and State Central Library as part of the Wildlife Week celebrations on Wednesday. Conservation interventions must be based on scientific assessment of local ecosystems, he said.Nameer said vista clearance and weed removal along forest paths in protected areas had to be carried out carefully. Under the practice, vegetation is cleared up to 10 metres on either side of a path. Such areas may appear green at first glance, but removing the undergrowth could affect natural regeneration, he said.A study in Wayanad forests that used trunk girth as a measure of regeneration found no trees thinner than 10cm, though trees thicker than 60cm were present. This absence of young trees indicated that the forests could face poor regeneration in the long term, Nameer said.He also cautioned against indiscriminate construction of artificial waterholes. Wayanad has 929.576 hectares of paddy fields in Kurichiat, Muthanga, Sultan Bathery and Tholpetty. Large waterholes built near these fields could draw water away from them and affect the wetland ecosystem, he said. Studies had also shown that animals did not always prefer artificial waterholes when natural flowing water sources were available nearby, he added.Afforestation on beaches could damage coastal ecosystems, he said. Open sandy beaches are considered wetland ecosystems, and planting trees such as casuarina, often justified as protection against tsunamis, could alter their ecological character.Nameer warned that grassland restoration required caution in choosing grass species. Pennisetum clandestinum, an invasive grass considered a noxious weed in the United States and Australia, was being used in some restoration efforts, he said. In Pambadum Shola, the removal of acacia had been followed by the emergence of another potentially dangerous invasive species, he said.“Therefore, we have to ask whether what is happening is green restoration or greenwashing,” Nameer said. Restoration could not be considered successful merely because bison returned to an area; the return of butterflies and other associated species was equally important, he added.
