Carrerk in Kalimpong. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha

Kalimpong, Oct. 3: Planting teak and pine trees in the Darjeeling hills on a large scale can potentially ruin the local environment, said Ricardo Carrerk of World Rainforest Movement.

Carrerk is the international coordinator of the movement, which is headquartered in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo and fights against monoculture tree plantation (large scale planting of single species) across the world.

Terming the forest model followed in the hills as “socially and environmentally unsustainable”, Carrerk said: “We are not against any tree species, but all evidence on the monoculture model shows that it is not good for people and bad for the environment.”

The coordinator was here on the invitation of a local environmental group, North Eastern Society for Preservation of Nature. He told The Telegraph after touring some forests of the three hill subdivisions that both pine and teak, which constitute about 60 per cent of the forest cover here, are alien species and their large scale plantation would prove ruinous for both native tree species and local people. Carrerk also alleged that these trees are being planted only for profit. “In fact, it is a lie to call them forests,” he added, preferring to call them “crops” instead.

“I find it absurd that in a country like India, eucalyptus is planted on a large scale as these trees, too, are an alien species,” he said.

Carrerk said monoculture plantations are increasingly being promoted in the developing countries, where both land and labour cost very little. Besides, the fast-growing nature of these trees combines to make the wood very cheap. “Their aim is to provide raw material to the global paper industry in the developed countries,” he added.

Soumitra Ghosh, the secretary of the North Eastern Society, said monoculture plantations in north Bengal have adversely impacted thousands of forest villagers.