Implementing Agency:
Department For International Development (PAND)

Managing Institute:
Commonwealth Human Ecology Council (CHEC)

Contractor:
Auroville Palmyra Afforestation Unit

Project Code: 149-680-078	Start Date: 28/07/1992	End Date: 31/03/1996
Commitment: £49,790	Status: Completed	Type of Funding: Bilateral - JFS

Project Background:
The project is located adjacent to the township of Auroville about 10km to the north of Pondicherry and about 160km to the south of Madras; Latitude 12N; Longitude 79E. The area receives an average annual rainfall of 1200mm in the form of torrential downpours mainly during the October-November monsoon season. The mean day temperature is about 35C throughout most of the year. The area is situated on a lateritic plateau at a distance of about 5km from the sea and about 45m above MSL. The geographic and climatic conditions prevailing in the area are very conducive to rapid degradation of the life sustaining capacity of the land: inadequate land and water resources management leads to erosion, falling sub-terranean water tables and decreasing yields of crops. Eventually there will be thousands of acres of desert-like wastelands where the red laterite strata lies exposed, denuded of any form of vegetation and deeply furrowed by erosion channels, sometimes in the form of "Canyons" several metres deep.

Project Objectives:
To regenerate some 2,250 acres of wasteland.

In this area the project aims at restoring fertility by the appropriate management of two watersheds almost exclusively for the benefit of villagers in the area (with the exception of a small pocket of Auroville land). On the regenerated land some 550,000 trees are to be planted: fruit trees, fodder trees, hardwood for construction.

Intended Outputs:
Before the start of water conservation measures the water flow during the rainy (monsoon) season is studied and recorded. A system of bunding of individual fields is then introduced starting near the top of the watershed and necessarily adjusted to the land ownership pattern. Height and width of bunds depends on the location: bunds can be reinforced by the planting of thorny plants which can also control the access of animals (cattle and goats). As a basic rule, all surface water should be retained within a bunded plot and soak into the soil; no water should be allowed to flow from a bunded plot to another one at a lower level. This rule will be a determining factor as to the number of bunded parcels needed in a given area. Sometimes small dams are needed to stop the flow of water in "canyons". All earthworks are carried out without machines; the process is labour intensive, taking advantage of the low cost of Indian labour (a labourer will earn between 50 and 75 pence per day. Effective watershed management will induce surface water to soak into the ground and ultimately raise thet sub-terranean water level.

Once water conservation measures are in place tree planting can begin. The planting season is comparatively short as it has to be related to the monsoon season which is erratic and not always very reliable. The required seedlings must be ready in the tree nurseries for planting at short notice. Preference is given to trees indigenous to the area; the seeds are collected locally.

First priority is given to areas which are not yet entirely degraded; management is then extended to adjacent worse affected areas. In the case of seriously degraded land it may be necessary to introduce fast growing non-indigenous tree species; in this respect several Acacia species were found to be most successful. These trees will attract birds and other wildlife which will spread seeds and support the process of regeneration. Acacia Auriculiformis, a fast-growing leguminous tree of medium height and extremely drought resistant has proved itself not only as a good pioneering species but also as a valuable source of timber.

Some 70 indigenous species of trees are available for planting. Of these, 25 species are used most frequently: fruit and fodder trees, firewood, and hardwood. The types of trees can be chosen by individual landowners. Land ownership patterns and location of participants also affects the tree planting pattern. The result will not be a continuous forest, but parcels of woodlands interspersed with agricultural lands, where the woodlands act as shelter belts for the land in agricultural use; a pattern of agro forestry.