A forest born from the ashes

Shillim Valley was under constant threat from unsustainable slash-and-burn agricultural practice when duo Gavin and Karen De Souza initiated preservation of the area. Stemming from a deep connection to nature, the duo executed an afforestation project that, and in two decades time, turned the barren land into an eco-spot.

"Slash-and-burn is a farming practice evolved from lack of economic alternatives the sheer need to survive," explains Gavin. "Each year, we witnessed the annual burning of virtually every forested hillside. These ill agricultural practices degraded the natural fertility and minerals of the land leaving it mostly high and dry with hardly any greenery around," he recalls.

But they realised that conservation wouldn't be possible without the cooperation of the local communities. And so, educating them – and working in unison – was imperative. "The men of the village were given jobs to guard the property, which included putting out forest fires, preventing any slash-and-burn practices, and curbing wildlife hunting. The women were employed in the nursery and in the large annual pre-monsoon plantation program," he says.

The duo also brought in experts like Radha Veach, a horticulturist, who took on the ambitious goal of establishing a native species reforestation program. "Committing to live on-site, she scoured the forest for native seeds and grew them in a nursery on the banks of Pawna Lake," recalls Gavin. "The program's logic was simple: a forest can regenerate fastest when its own species are allowed to act in symbiosis."

Today, more than a million trees provide a safe harbour for a diverse flora and fauna. The valley is also home to over 300 different species. This includes 20 mammals including leopards, barking mouse deer, langurs, jungle cats, jackals, wild boars, wild dogs, and flying squirrel. Falcon, kite, short-toed eagle, purple sunbird, babblers, robin, cuckoo, and grey jungle fowl make up some of the 82 species of birds. And with 13 species of lizards, 24 species of snakes and three species of amphibians, 60 species of insects and 21 species of butterflies the Valley is a rich biodiversity spot.