Resources

"A Battle Lost? Report on Two Centuries of Invasion and Management of Lantana camara L.," provides the historical and scientific evidence that informs much of our philosophy at The Shola Trust. By analysing 200 years of data across Australia, India, and South Africa, the authors—including our own team members—demonstrate that traditional "aggressive eradication" efforts have largely failed to stop the spread of Lantana.

The CoExist project is a global initiative centered on a traveling herd of 100 life-size elephants crafted from invasive Lantana camara. These sculptures are modeled after real wild elephants from the Nilgiris, sharing their individual stories to promote a new narrative of living well with other species in a human-dominated world.

This document serves as an essential educational primer on the ecological challenges posed by non-native species, with a specific focus on the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR). It clarifies the often-confused terminology between "weeds," "exotics," and "invasives," explaining that while many plants are introduced, only those that spread without human help and negatively impact native biodiversity are classified as truly invasive.

"Notes from the Other Side of a Forest Fire" (2017) challenges the modern "all fire is bad" narrative in Indian conservation by drawing on history, ecology, and indigenous wisdom. The authors argue that the current blanket ban on forest fires is a colonial legacy that prioritised timber production over holistic ecosystem health.

The Lantana Furniture and Craft project was a community-based initiative designed to turn an environmental crisis into an economic opportunity. By training indigenous Kattunayakan and Bettakurumba artisans to harvest and process the invasive Lantana camara weed, the project created a sustainable value chain for high-quality, durable home goods.

Every Elephant is an Individual: A Guide to Identify an Elephant is a practical field tool designed to transition elephant conservation from general population monitoring to the recognition of individual personalities. It provides a systematic framework for identifying elephants by documenting unique physical characteristics that act as natural "fingerprints".

A past initiative aimed at converting the invasive Lantana camara into a sustainable energy source and a viable livelihood for tribal communities. Developed in 2014, the project detailed a "binder-less" technology process—encompassing manual uprooting, pulverising, and mechanical compaction—to transform loose biomass into high-density fuel briquettes with a superior calorific value of 4200 kcal/kg. While the initiative sought to provide secure employment for community members through Eco-development committees (EDCs), it also served as a strategic exploration into industrial-scale interventions for forest restoration by substituting traditional firewood in local tea factories and resorts.

Draft Report submitted to Karnataka Forest Department – March 2016
Fieldwork: Manikandan R, Vishnu Vardhan, Ramesh Madan, Kannan S, Arunkumar B, Prakash G, Dhanesh Kumar, Suresh O and Tarsh Thekaekara
Report, maps and analysis: Tarsh Thekaekara

Report submitted to the Tamil Nadu Forest Department June 2014
By Tarsh Thekaekara, with considerable help from Ramesh Madan, Tariq Thekaekara, Arunkumar, Dhanesh Kumar, Prakash G, R Manikandan, Kannan S and H. Madhusudanan.

Report submitted to WWF-India and the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, November 2015
Field-work: Manikandan R, Vishnu Vardhan, Ramesh Madan, Kannan S, Subin Kappala, Arunkumar B, Prakash G and Tarsh Thekaekara
Report: maps and analysis: Tarsh Thekaekara