TWIST IN THE LANTANA TALE

The Soliga tribal community of Karnataka makes handcrafted items from lantana, helping curb the spread of the invasive shrub that now covers 40 per cent of the Western Ghats S

- ANDEEP HANCHANALE AND SIDDAPPA SETTY

MUNEGOUDA (name changed) is a trained artisan who lives in the VMale Mahadeshwara Hills of southern Karnataka. He is a Soliga-a hunter-gatherer community that depends on the forests it inhabits for livelihood, mainly through the collection of non-timber forest produce (NTFP). Munegouda, too, collects NTFPS. But he now also makes handicraft items and furniture from a thorny shrub—lantana (Lantana camara)that has invaded the forests.

Native to South America, lantana was introduced to India by the British as an ornamental plant in the 1800s. It has since taken over 40 per cent of the Western Ghats and continues to grow. The proliferation of lantana has led to widespread impacts on the natural environment and, consequently, the people, whose ability to forage NTFPS has been drastically impacted by the species' spread.

The "India State of Forest Report 2021", released in January, for the first time provides state-wise data on 29 invasive species in the country, and shows that more than 9,793 sq kman area larger than Sikkim-is under lantana, with Madhya Pradesh being the most infested (2,852 sq km), followed by Karnataka (1,432 sq km) and Tamil Nadu (1,154 sq km). The report shows that the spread of lantana is only marginally less than the combined spread of the other 28 species (11,975 sq km).