Introduction
Andhra Pradesh, known for its diverse landscapes and agricultural richness, has embarked on a remarkable journey towards environmental sustainability through the establishment of Casuarina plantations. These plantations are not only contributing to the state's economic growth but also playing a crucial role in conserving the environment and enhancing the livelihoods of local communities.
The Casuarina Tree: A Sustainable Champion
Casuarina, often called the Australian pine, is a robust evergreen tree species known for its remarkable adaptability to a wide range of environmental conditions. In Andhra Pradesh, Casuarina equisetifolia and Casuarina cunninghamiana are the two prominent species under cultivation.
Environmental Benefits
Soil Erosion Control: Casuarina's deep-rooted system is exceptionally effective in preventing soil erosion. These plantations act as natural shields, protecting coastal regions and riverbanks from the ravages of erosion, especially during monsoon seasons.
Salinity Management: In regions prone to soil salinity, Casuarina plantations offer a sustainable solution. Their ability to thrive in saline soils helps in reducing soil salinity and improving the overall soil quality.
Carbon Sequestration: Casuarina trees are excellent carbon sinks, absorbing substantial amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This makes them valuable assets in the fight against climate change.
Economic Advantages
Timber Production: Casuarina wood, prized for its durability and resistance to decay, serves as a valuable source of timber for construction, furniture, and paper production. The sustainable harvest of Casuarina wood provides a significant economic boost to local communities.
Livelihood Enhancement: Casuarina plantations generate employment opportunities, benefiting the rural population in Andhra Pradesh. The cultivation and maintenance of these plantations offer a source of income and livelihood security.
Community Involvement: Casuarina plantations often involve local communities in their management. This participatory approach not only empowers local residents but also fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility towards sustaining these valuable ecosystems.
Challenges and Sustainability Measures
While Casuarina plantations offer numerous benefits, they also face challenges such as pest infestations and fire risks. Sustainable management practices, including integrated pest management and fire prevention strategies, are crucial for the long-term health of these plantations.
Conclusion
The establishment of Casuarina plantations in Andhra Pradesh represents a commendable step towards environmental conservation and sustainable development. These plantations are not only fortifying the soil, mitigating climate change, and bolstering the economy but also enriching the lives of local communities.
The success of Casuarina plantations in Andhra Pradesh serves as a model for sustainable land use practices and demonstrates how carefully chosen tree species can transform landscapes while ensuring environmental resilience. As these plantations continue to thrive, they stand as living proof that sustainable practices can lead to a greener, more prosperous future for us all.
In our quest for a sustainable future, we often look to nature as a guide. One of the most promising avenues toward sustainability is through responsible forestry plantations. These carefully managed ecosystems not only help meet our demand for wood and other forest products but also play a pivotal role in environmental conservation and climate change mitigation.
Balancing Act: Biodiversity and Forestry Plantations
Sustainable forestry plantations prioritize biodiversity conservation. Instead of monoculture, where a single tree species dominates, these plantations promote mixed-species forests. By mimicking natural ecosystems, we create habitats for a diverse range of flora and fauna. This diversity strengthens the overall resilience of the ecosystem, making it less susceptible to pests and diseases.
Carbon Capture and Climate Mitigation
Forests are powerful carbon sinks. Sustainable forestry plantations contribute to mitigating climate change by absorbing and storing large amounts of carbon dioxide. As trees grow, they capture carbon from the atmosphere, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In this way, forestry plantations are part of the solution to combatting global warming.
Training : While in-house trainings are conducted on a regular basis on FSC concept to keep the employees across the chain from procurement of raw materials to sale of finished goods aware and updated to face the above audits, field trainings are carried out to spread and refresh knowledge of field staff as well as the stakeholders like farmers as all come under the gamut of the assessments of efficacy by the auditors. Thus, all stakeholders become part of this journey.
Economic Benefits for Local Communities
Sustainable forestry practices go beyond environmental considerations; they also benefit local communities. By providing jobs, fostering economic growth, and supporting small-scale enterprises, forestry plantations can uplift the livelihoods of those living in proximity. This not only reduces pressure on natural forests but also ensures a sustainable income source for communities.
Responsible Management and Certification
To ensure the sustainability of forestry plantations, many undergo rigorous certification processes, such as FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification. These certifications validate that plantations adhere to strict environmental, social, and economic standards. Consumers can then make informed choices, supporting products that come from responsibly managed plantations.
Conserving Natural Forests
Sustainable forestry plantations also help reduce the pressure on natural forests. By meeting a portion of the global demand for wood and other forest products, we can decrease the need to harvest from primary forests. This, in turn, helps protect vital ecosystems and the unique biodiversity they contain.
Continuous Improvement
The concept of sustainability is dynamic. Forestry plantations continually strive for improvement. Researchers and practitioners are constantly exploring innovative methods to enhance plantation management, minimize ecological impact, and maximize the benefits for both people and the planet.
In conclusion, sustainable forestry plantations are a beacon of hope for our planet's future. By adopting responsible management practices, preserving biodiversity, mitigating climate change, and supporting local communities, these plantations exemplify the harmony that can exist between human needs and ecological preservation. As we navigate the challenges of the 21st century, embracing sustainable forestry is a step toward ensuring a thriving world for generations to come. !
If you go to ATM to withdraw money or you wait for a mobile bill to come, everywhere you are asked to be "environmentally responsible"! By that they ask you to subscribe for e-bill and not to ask fora paper bill. Ever wondered why such a misconception is carried. Well, country wide the view might have been spread among common people that paper is manufactured of illegally harvested wood from forests that lead to deforestation and therefore degradation of ecology. However, the fact is far away from it. Not only that wood, in today's country, are not illegally harvested from forests for paper manufacturing, but, almost all responsible paper mills are today in process of creating their own forest development through farm forestry model.
As evident from the name of the model itself, the paper Industry promote forestry on farmers' field by giving them alternate and sustainable livelihood. Thus, use of paper, in actuality, help farming community to produce more and earn more. However, the model of procurement and claim as a whole is subject to various audits for credibility of the same and one of the most accepted certification globally in wood trading is of FSC® or Forest Stewardship Council®. We discussed about it in outline in our earlier issue of this magazine where we informed the readers that we have 3 different certificates that get audited every year by accredited 3rd party auditors on behalf of FSC. In this issue, we will further delve in to a little more detail of it.
FSC® is an international certification and labeling system that guarantees that paper and wood products carrying the FSC label come from an environmentally and socially responsible source. Their mission is to promote environmentally sound, socially beneficial and economically prosperous management of the world's forests. As it is stated, the entire FSC principles are standing on 3 pillars therefore:
Training : While in-house trainings are conducted on a regular basis on FSC concept to keep the employees across the chain from procurement of raw materials to sale of finished goods aware and updated to face the above audits, field trainings are carried out to spread and refresh knowledge of field staff as well as the stakeholders like farmers as all come under the gamut of the assessments of efficacy by the auditors. Thus, all stakeholders become part of this journey.
Tracking : FSC requires strict traceability across of the chain of conversion. It encompasses the wood that comes that may fall under different FSC category, to the Finished Goods that are stored in Finshing House that may also be again with or without FSC Logo. Proper segregation in storage is a must.
Recordkeeping : This is the final pillar and holds a very important role in the entire FSC certification assessment system. A strong record keeping system gives the necessary assurance to the audit body that the Organization can sustainably manage the show on FSC front.
These are globally accepted certifications and they do not come cheap or easy. If we try to further understand the types of audits, they are basically of 3 types:
>> Evaluation audit- where certification body (the accredited audit farm) determines from system and procedure if the Mill or the entity is eligible for the certification or not.
>> Surveillance audit- where certification body, on an annual basis, does a thorough audit of the entity and confirms the validity of the certificate
>> Re-evaluation audit- The certificates are valid for 5 years. Thus, every 5th year, the auditee farm or entity has to go through further rigorous audit to reaffirm they are eligible for the renewal of the certificate.
With ever improving environmental consciousness around the world, FSC certifications are today playing a crucial role in APL's export in the US, Europe and a few other countries. Therefore, it is becoming essential by each passing day the employees be aware more about it. Might we say, it holds the key to the future!
Often, when we talk about Business Sustainability nowadays, the topic revolves around Triple Bottom Line approach that has gained its weight after decades of struggle by numerous environmentalists and social justice advocates. The approach essentially brings us out of single bottom line of earlier days, when a Corporation used to be concerned about either profit or loss. The Triple Bottom Line teaches us to look at three important aspects viz. Financial, Social and Environmental today while assessing the success of a Company. No wonder, Sustainability of Business began with this core concept. However, the periphery of this approach does not end within the Mill boundaries, it encompasses the field activity that provides the actual food for the business to run - raw materials. For a Paper mill, pulpwood is the lifeline and let us see how Triple Bottom Line is applicable here as well.
Any excellence that we like to claim, must be endorsed by a Certificate. When we talk about Forestry operations to procure pulpwood, we do have certificates in that too. Forest Stewardship Council (https://fsc.org/en) is the most renowned and accepted certification system worldwide among forest-product based customers. The certificates are awarded to an Organization after rigorous system development followed by equally demanding audit to ensure that the forestry operation under that Organization now has in place a system to guarantee an environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable forestry operation. Let us delve briefly, on how the Standard of the Certification works. FSC issued 10 Principles and 70 criteria that apply to FSC certified forests around the world. In addition, they have another component called the Chain of Custody that has another set of rules to ensure that the product manufactured by a Forest Based Industry has a complete and unbroken link with the certified forest based material procured.
This becomes considerably attainable in countries where a forest based Company can have thousands of acres under its own control as captive plantation. When we think of a country like India where, the entire forestry operation follows Farm Forestry model, wherein the Industry promotes pulpwood plantation in farmers' lands and later procure from them thereby making several times difficult to implement the system to acquire an FSC certificate. Yet, APL, by its sheer determination, acquired both the types of certificates, on Forest Based Raw Materials in form of wood, and, the Chain of Custody, the latter one separately for both Rajamahendravaram Unit and Kadiyam Unit. We need to keep in mind that these certificates are validated every year by a 3rd Party auditor on behalf of FSC and the Units get re-certified after every 5 years through equally rigorous audit up to farmers' field level.
After all such demanding checks, that the Company has still showed its endurance and come out of all FSC audits every year successfully, submits a glowing evidence of Sustainability in the process itself. No doubt, this took years to build, by continuous training from field staff, harvesting wood, to a supervisor running the paper finishing house.
You can verify here the various certifications that Andhra Paper Limited holds:
Click on https://info.fsc.org/certificate.php
Type Andhra Paper Limited and pick country from the drop down list!
Sustainability is a heavy word. It contains so much inside that it becomes difficult to fathom the depth of it and therefore often used as cliche. On a simpler term, we understand, when some activity continues for a considerable period of time and show a sign of stability, it is called "sustainable". Then how do we ensure sustainability of an Industry, say this paper Mill. Not to get into whole gamut of it, let us take the forestry side. We understand Godavari is not going to dry up all of a sudden, neither the coal mines are going to be empty soon, but how do we know if wood source will remain within reach for next 50 years. This is where we need to make an impact. Raw materials (read wood) sustainability is one of the most important aspects to ensure overall business survival.
However, while we all focus on such traditional aspects of sustainability, the need of the hour may also be knocking at the door for leadership sustainability. The market has become dynamic more and more every passing day. Diversity increased many fold in today's workplace. From machine level (read shopfloor level) till top leadership team of an Organization, decision making and people management kept on becoming complex. People are often interviewed on their hard skills (academic and work experience) while many soft skills are often ignored (barring a few forward looking Industries today). An equal focus on the leadership skills of a person becomes as pertinent (if not more) as any other hard skills.
A systematic approach from recruitment to continuous assessment and reinforcements of leadership skills at all levels should gain prime importance looking forward as we all understand, whether a manufacturing industry or a service industry, if it is manpower intensive, you need people's managers... at all levels.
The village's name is Prakkilanka (Tallapudi Mandal). As the name suggests, it is in the middle of river Godavari - between East Godavari and West Godavari districts. The great flood of 1986 in this part of Godavari shaped this island, as told by the localities. Gradually, people began purchasing lands on this island and began cultivating crops such as Tobacco and Corn. However, vast lands remained unutilized, as many people who purchased them, did not have further investment capacity. The lands were registered, but electricity did not reach there and that become a big hindrance in irrigation for regular agriculture.
During 2016, for the first time, the Farm Forestry Manager Mr. K Ramakrishna visited this area and thus our journey began. The first Casuarina clonal plantation took place in October 2016 over a 5-acre plot, when a farmer decided to try it against the odds of that place. Yet, Ramakrishna did not stop there and kept making great efforts to gain the confidence of the landowners who were not willing to do anything. He soon started searching for people having the capacity to invest and the interest to grow the crop.
This unique approach and his unending enthusiasm finally started giving fruits when he successfully facilitated a few landowners with one interested farmer who was searching for a land to cultivate the Casuarina clone. Finally, during 2018, we succeeded to convert 79-acres of barren land to Casuarina clonal plantation, distributing to the tune of 1.75 lakh saplings. It took a herculean effort, not only in searching of the lands and facilitating with the interested investor-cum-farmers, but also in managing the plants and the transport of labourers - sometimes by tractors when the river was dry, and sometimes by boats when the river was full.
This opened a new avenue of Farm Forestry Extension (promotion) and once again proved that if there is a will, there is a way.
Andhra Paper Limited began its Farm Forestry Program in1989 to promote pulpwood plantation on farmlands in partnership with the farmers in the state of Andhra Pradesh. In the same year, the company commenced propagating high quality clonal saplings by starting its first ClonalProduction Center (CPC) at Rajahmundry.
In next three decades, the company developed strong networks and resources in clonal sapling production and forestry extension, while opening four more CPCs to promote high yielding Casuarina Clones among the farming community of the state.
In order to build a long term, cost effective and sustainable raw material resource base within the vicinity of the mill, from the year 2018 onwards, the company decided to pursue forestry activities within 150 km of the mill by building strong linkages with the local farming community. Moreover, the company has envisaged a long term Fiber and Forestry Strategy in 2018 for long-term sustainable supply of fibrous raw material. Under this strategy, the company decided to propagate all pulpwood species requirement of the mill, within 150 km from the mill with an aim to procure around 80% of the total fiber requirement from this area in the next 7-8 years. Accordingly, the company has started collaborating with the privatenurseries for production and distribution of clones.
High yielding, disease and pest resistant pulpwood species with desirable characteristics of fast and uniform growth that are being produced today in CPC at Kadiam, would now be produced in these selected Partner CPCs as well, from 2019. This strategy would ensure sustained & increased supply of desired clonal saplings, year on year, which in turn would ensure sustained wood supply within 150 km radius from the mill. The private CPC collaboration approach thus develops employment and sustained income for propagating clones (via nurseries/CPCs) while simultaneously benefiting the farmers with quality plants in nearby areas, cutting down transportation expenses.
In the journey of making sustainable forest management its one of the major focus points, Andhra Paper Limited began the campaign to do something more meaningful for the rural economics by introducing Casuarina clones besides prevalent product of seedrooted saplings for plantation. Today, Andhra Paper Limited is running 5 Clonal Propagation Centers (CPCs) across 3 districts of Andhra Pradesh having 69 Polyhouses (polythene covered rooms where clonal saplings are kept) engaging average 280 woman-power daily. In a major shift, further in the culture and work practice, Andhra Paper Limited has recently introduced the concept of Team Based Working System where responsibility of each poly house has been given to one lead lady who is made the Team Leader. In this way, not only the accountability has become clear with a resultant 'sense of ownership', but the ladies have got the opportunity to develop and practice leadership, too.
Clonal forestry requires mist chambers, growth chambers and poly house supplied with high energy or power resources for vegetative propagation to control the moisture and temperature.
Andhra Paper Limited has adopted an innovative method of tree cloning through simple poly house that can be established without energy or power supply at even remote places. These are called zero energy poly houses made at a very low cost using polythene sheets and local supporting structure. The mist in these chambers is produced by water vapor from the channels made and filled with water at the peripheral region of the poly house. Water channels produce vapor by evaporation using heat from the sun light during the day. This creates relative humidity required for rooting of plants inside the structure. This process creates adequate temperature and relative humidity without using any energy resources to produce best clones.
