Evergreen & Abri Forests

A young and growing forest ecosystem

Evergreen and Abri are some of the younger forests in Auroville. In Evergreen wild buffalo roams the area, as well as civet cats, mongoose, deer, and wild boar, to name a few. Both of these forests have recently participated in a program for reintroducing an endangered tree species, Drypetes porteri, led by the Botanical Gardens Auroville team.

Acreage: 48 Acres     Steward: Natasha Storey

Evergreen Forest

Evergreen, as the name suggests, is a forest with trees that largely stay green throughout the year and are considered by some as symbols of the eternal. Santo first planted these trees in 1993 soon after the land was bought by Auroville. Through changing hands and moving boundaries the main impetus for the work has remained the same. Namely to restore the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest (TDEF) that once filled the entire Auroville plateau. This entails increasing biodiversity, ensuring representation of over 400 species, protection and maintenance of habitat, soil and water conservation and a general adaptive management to this growing forest ecosystem.