Promoting the ingenious use of a plant invasive,

Lantana camara,
camara to enhance the livelihood of the
forest dwelling communities in India

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the

Environment (ATREE)
Bangalore, India

www.atree.org

THANK YOU FOR

THIS HONOUR
Ramesh Kannan
R Uma Shankar
www.atree.org

We dedicate this Award to

the forest dwelling communities in south India

Presentation of our
case st
study
d

Scores of plants
around the world have invaded alien habitats

Frequently at great costs to the native flora and fauna

Mikania micrantha

Introduced to India and

to parts of south east Asia
g
to camouflage
Airfields a major invasive

Mile-a-minute
ea
ute p
plant
a t

Parthenium : introduced with wheat imports into India

http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/ikmp/images/parthenium.gif

Water hyacinth: cloggers of water bodies

Impacts
p
of invasive species
p
Ecological : Biodiversity
loss, habitat degradation
Ecosystem services: water,
pollinator and dispersal
services
i
etc
t
Economic: direct and
indirect, loss of productivity
Livelihood loss: through
loss of indigenous species

Beyond Control !!
Cost of controlling
invasive species =
$137 billion per year in
US ((Pimentel et al. 2000))
Clearly something not possible in low
GDP countries

When you cannot break something,

att lleastt b
bend
d it!

Can we put invasive species to good use ?

The Lantana camara

story
y in India

Lantana camara

One of 10 worst invasive species in the world

Global distribution of Lantana

Lantana was introduced into India as an ornamental plant in 1807

f
from
south
h America
A
i

Most of India is threatened with Lantana

Promoting the use of Lantana by the forest

d lli communities
dwelling
iti in
i India
I di

To enhance local livelihoods

To help restrict the spread of the invasive species

Technology
D
Development
l
and
Product
development

Training of
artisans
Livelihood
Enhancement
Biodiversity
conservation

Market
linkages

Implementation Process

Study sites in south India

Study sites

Lantana spread

Lantana has affected habitat quality for elephants and

other animals

Productdesigningand
evolution

Natham
HESCO

Chittoor
Boiling & Designing

Training of artisans

Training of artisans

Establishment of Lantana Craft Centres

MarketingStrategy
g
gy
Feedba
F
ack

Feeedbacck

ArtisanGroupandDesigningUnit

MarketingCenter

Shopping
Sh
i
Outlets

Household

Direct
Marketing

Corporate&Social
C
&S i l
Institutions

Displayracks

Seedlingbasket

DiversifieduseofLantana

Exhibitions

LantanaCommunityMeeting
(Mela)

Artisans from four states

off India
I di participated
i i
d in
i
Lantana Mela-2005, 2006
2007 andd 2008

Lantana use profile

p
Lowcost
Highvolume
Localskills
Simpletechnology
Sustainlocalmarkets

ImpactofLantanaonlivelihood
p
160
140
M e a n n u m b e r o f m a n -d a y s

About300families
trainedintheuseof
Lantana
Mandaysemployment
hasincreasedby50to
60%
Averagemonthly
A
hl
incomehasincreased
by 100 percent
by100percent

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2004

2005
year

2006

Raising indigenous plants for restoration planting

Planting in process

Replicabilityofthetechnology

Visitors from Madagascar

Summary
y
Demonstrated the successful promotion of
p
invasive species
enhanced
h
d llocall lilivelihoods
lih d
restoring
esto g native
at e b
biodiversity
od e s ty
Can be successfully adopted in other
g
regions

What is a weed ? A plant whose

virtues have not been
d sco e ed
discovered
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803-1882)

Acknowledgement
g
Development Marketplace, World Bank
Department of Biotechnology,
Biotechnology Government
of India
Bluemoon
Bl
F
Fund,
d USA
Rainforest
a o est Co
Concern,
ce , U
UK
Dorabji Tata Trust, India
Forest Departments of Karnataka,
Tamilnadu, and Kerala

Thank you for your attention

Thank you for the award