Statement from the Forest Group

On May 6th, the Auroville Forest Group, which was constituted by the RA in 1982 and which is endorsed in the Auroville Universal Township Master Plan – Perspective 2025, circulated an email reiterating its commitment to nurture and protect the green spaces and provide an integrated ecological basis for Auroville, physically and spiritually.

The Forest Group reaffirmed its dedication to a wider economic approach that supports Auroville’s enduring commitment to a gift economy. The Group stated its intention to avoid commercializing its activities for profit, emphasizing that its work in addressing Climate Change and the loss of two-thirds of the global biodiversity involves intangible values essential to community survival and the common good, rather than mere monetary gains. As stewards of the Auroville forests, the Group sees itself as custodians of biodiversity, soil regeneration, erosion control, aquifer recharge, air quality, afforestation and the preservation of cultural practices and ancestral knowledge vital for sustainable living. The group also commits to upholding the rights of nature.

The Group stated that it continues to operate beyond profit-driven objectives to embrace a service-based model that is communally oriented, not only for Auroville itself but for the entire bioregion, and attuned to the pressing environmental concerns. The Group recalled that it is presently working under challenging circumstances, as its Financial Service accounts have been frozen, budgets have been cut without consultation and the maintenances of 42 foresters and 62 forest workers were abruptly discontinued by the GB-constituted Funds and Assets Management Committee (GB-FAMC) by email in June 2023.