Faced with severe drought, Kerala to cut down Eucalyptus and Acacia trees

This will be done on June 5, which is also World Environment Day and comes under Kerala’s Haritha Keralam Project.
Faced with severe drought, Kerala to cut down Eucalyptus and Acacia trees
Faced with severe drought, Kerala to cut down Eucalyptus and Acacia trees
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With Kerala going through a severe drought and water crisis, the state government has decided to cut down all Acacia and Eucalyptus trees as they result in groundwater depletion.

This will be done on June 5, which is also World Environment Day and comes under Kerala’s Haritha Keralam Project.

CM Pinarayi Vijayan in a high-level meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday ordered to cut down all the Acacia and Eucalyptus trees from government land across the state and to replace them with fruit-bearing trees and medicinal plants, reports Deccan Chronicle.

“Acacia and Eucalyptus trees were planted by Kerala Forest Development Corporation during the ministership of Aryadan Muhammed. They thrive on the northern and western side of Agasthykoodam hills near the dams. This drought should serve as an eye opener to replace them,” DC quotes an environmental activist Raj Kumar.

The government has also decided to plant one crore trees on June 5.

The forest department has kept ready 72 lakh saplings, the agricultural department five lakh and Kudumbasree women’s mission 23 lakh saplings.

40 lakh trees will be planted by school students.

There are reports that Acacia plantations near Peppara and Neyyar dams of Thiruvananthapuram have intensified the drought. The acacia trees were being used for wood by the forest department.

In December 2016, the neighbouring state of Karnataka had banned planting of saplings of Eucalyptus and Acacia and had decided to table a bill in the Legislature to enact a law for effective enforcement of the ban.

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