Cauvery calling update

24 September, 2024

12:50 PM

The Isha Foundation, a spiritual organization headquartered in south India, is taking on the cause of revitalizing India’s imperiled rivers. With government and public support, it says it has successfully raised enough money to plant more than 46 million trees in its test project site, the Cauvery River basin. However, some ecologists and scientists oppose the methods of the planned project. While they say they appreciate the sentiment behind the idea, they add that mass tree planting will not solve the real issues and may even cause new problems.

A question of trees

The Isha Way

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Troubled waters

2.5 billion trees

The Cauvery is not alone. Almost every river in India is in trouble, hit by multiple impacts including climate change, pollution, overexploitation, river-interlinking, mining, and damming. For the Isha Foundation, the solution to the declining health of India’s rivers centers on tree planting.

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A question of trees

The Isha Way

The Isha Foundation says it will help farmers and rural residents by planting trees on private farmland. It says the project will increase farmers’ incomes by 300 to 800% over five to seven years. “The planting will start from next sowing season in June-July 2020. A list of high value timber trees is under discussion with the government,” said the foundation spokesperson. But the ATREE researchers have warned against planting certain species. “Moreover, tree planting is not necessarily benign. Deep-rooted, fast-growing species like eucalyptus have been shown to consume a lot of water and decrease groundwater recharge,” they wrote. Eucalyptus, commonly used for pulpwood, is not native to India, but remains a popular tree for monoculture plantations in the country. ...Read More

Action now to save cauvery

Human Impact Stories

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Field Stories

The Cauvery originates in the Kodagu hills of the Western Ghats in Karnataka state, flows east across the subcontinent, and drains into the Bay of Bengal in Tamil Nadu state. Along its 805-km (500-mi) course, the Cauvery is flanked by forests, grasslands, farms, cities and rural settlements, with several dams interrupting its natural flow. Millions of people along its course depend on its water for agriculture, industry and daily use, leading to frequent water disputes over the last few decades. A crucial river in southern India, the Cauvery was once perennial. But every year now it gets reduced to wide dry stretches at several points for several months prior to the monsoon rains. Led by Sadhguru, the motorcycle rally last September toured districts along the Cauvery, from its source in Kodagu district to the city of Coimbatore, visiting farmers and local communities to spread awareness about the health of the river and the need for its revitalization. ...Read More

Troubled waters

2.5 billion trees

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