Biodiversity Conservation

Of the 170 countries in the world, a mere 17 countries accommodate more than 70% of species diversity of the world. India has been labeled by the United Nations Environment Program's World Conservation Monitor Center as one of the mega biodiversity centers in the world. "Megadiversity" means that a place has a larger percentage of living species in its territory than what would correspond to it if that percentage were proportional to its surface.

The Western Ghats, where our campus is nestled, and the Eastern Himalayas are two of the world's 18 'biodiversity hotspots'. These are places where exceptional concentrations of endemic species are undergoing exceptional loss of habitat (Myers 1999).

The due to its rich bio diversity internationally acclaimed Western Gats ecosystem extends from the mountains to the seashore. The tropical forest of Western Ghats accommodates an abundant multipurpose species of plants, animals, birds, insects and microorganism under the evergreen forest cover. These forests are also considered storehouses of economically important plants of which many are medicinal plants.



These bio reserves are disappearing at an alarming rate due to the interference of human beings, as a result of exploitative deeds. The developmental activities like construction of roads, urbanization and agriculture have stripped the land of its vegetation along with the animal wealth.

These circumstances have committed us to practice and spread the message of protection of all types of natural resources for posteriority. Consequently we have ensured that in all our development programs the nature and environment are not affected undertaking many endeavors to restore natural resources.

Tree Planting

Trees greatly favor soil and water quality, which are the prime important features of biodiversity development. Leaf and other litter from tress that accumulate under trees create an environment, conducive and ideal for microorganisms, earthworms and other organisms that help maintain soil porosity and also enriches soil fertility. Trees also improve the habitat development and facilitates sheltering place for epiphytic plants like orchids and lichens, fungus, algae, insects, birds, reptiles and other organism.



We could thus transform a barren land into a manmade tropical forest in less than ten years by planting, establishing and conserving more than 1.5 lakh trees in the campus. A veritable collection of more than 200 species of tropical trees, the largest in South India, is maintained and they are labeled with scientific names. (see Tree Database)

Planting Technology

A technology for tree planting and establishment suited for semi-arid climatic conditions has been developed which can serve as model for such circumstances.

The essentials of the technology are taking larger pits, spreading coconut husk on the bottom of pits for moisture conservation, adding organic manure and the use for larger seedlings for planting.

Medicinal Plants

We maintain a large collection of medicinal plants and cultivate them in an area of 10 acres. A Project on "ex-situ cultivation of medicinal plants", financed by National Medicinal Plants Board, GOI is in operation. Medicinal plants like Bacopa monierii, Alpinia galangal, Centella asiatica, Withania somnifera, Aloe vera, etc. are grown organically. We have documented the medicinal plant wealth of the Ettimadai Campus.



Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University is able to work on the analysis of selected plants like Bacopa Monerii, Centella Asiatica and Moringa for their antioxidants, active principles, trace elements and nutrients. Learn More »

Landscaping

In order to instill in the academic community a sense of love towards nature and to create a congenial atmosphere for the students and the academic community we have developed on our campus one of the best landscapes in the country. The different style of landscaping like formal, informal, Japanese, rockery, have been adopted to serve as educative models for those interested in landscaping and gardening. Learn More »

Nursery

A nursery has been established with sprinkler and mist irrigation facilities and shade houses for large-scale production of tree seedlings and planting materials of ornamental and medicinal plants.