In southern India’s tea country, small but mighty efforts are brewing to bring back native forests

Associated Press

UDHAGAMANDALAM, India (AP) — Forests of native trees and plants once blanketed the Western Ghats mountains in southern India, but nearly 200 years ago, British colonists installed rows upon rows of tea plantations there. The few groves that stand today are either protected by Indigenous communities who preserve them for their faith and traditions, or are being grown and tended back into existence by ecologists who remove tea trees from disused farms and plant seeds native to this biodiverse region. It takes decades, but their efforts are finally starting to see results as forests flourish despite ecological damage and wilder weather caused by climate change.