EUCALYPTUS (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 – Env and Eco)

Context: Recently, the Kerala government authorized the Kerala Forest Development Corporation to plant eucalyptus trees for financial sustenance in 2024-2025, prompting environmentalist protests over potential negative impacts on forests and increased human-animal conflicts.

Eucalyptus

• About: It is cultivated in almost all states and Union territories of India, and the most suited variety from the 700 available species are picked according to the region of cultivation.
• Major Production: Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana are few of the states which produce the bulk of eucalyptus in the country which suffices the demands of the timber, pulp and paper industries.

oHowever, Karnataka in 2017, banned eucalyptus

• Nature: They can be highly competitive with other plant species and are often dominant in ecosystems where they grow.
• Origin of Eucalyptus: These species are native to Australia and nearby islands, primarily found on the Australian continent itself.
• Uses: Many medicines to treat coughs and the common cold contain eucalyptus.

Eucalyptus Plantations

• Rotation Age of Plantations

oEucalyptus Plantations: Eucalyptus plantations have a rotation age of nine years.

oAcacia auriculiformis Trees: Acacia auriculiformis trees have a rotation age of eighteen years.

oAcacia mangium Trees: Acacia mangium trees have a rotation age of seven years.

• Approval by Ministry: Plantations are felled at the end of each cycle, with approval from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change.
• Management Plan Species: Clear-felled plantations are replanted with species listed in a management plan.