Auroville Community Nostr Relay on Nostr: *Official Statement from the Auroville Forest Group* Since 1982, the Auroville Forest ...

*Official Statement from the Auroville Forest Group*

Since 1982, the Auroville Forest Group, has been the official body mandated by the Residents of Auroville and is also endorsed by the Master Plan – Perspective 2025 (Refer - APPENDIX 2: Role & Responsibilities of Different Working Groups in Auroville) as the body responsible for planting and maintenance of Auroville's forested areas, particularly the protective Green Belt around the township. For the past 42 years, this group has held monthly meetings and published its minutes in the N&N.

The Forest Group would like to reiterate its commitment to nurture and protect the green spaces of Auroville.

*Forest Group Purpose* - Provide an integrated ecological basis for Auroville, physically and spiritually.

*Core Values* - Mutual Respect, Commitment, Resilience, Humour, Courage

The Forest Group reaffirms its dedication to a wider economic approach that supports Auroville's enduring commitment to a gift economy. This stance is reinforced by their hands-on experience and highlights their participation in a broader spiritual vision for Auroville.

The FG unequivocally states 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.

Forests play a multitude of vital roles both environmentally, socially and culturally. Forests are critical to sustaining life on Earth, providing essential ecosystem services that support human well-being, protect our natural environment, and foster biodiversity. Historically, the FG has consistently performed with such an integral ecology.

As stewards of the forest, the FG 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.

Thus, the Forest Group would like to continue operating 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.

It is with this spirit that the Forest Group continues to operate under challenging circumstances where-in our FS Accounts have been frozen, budgets were cut without any consultation with the residents and the maintenances of 42 foresters and 62 Forest workers abruptly discontinued through a simple mail since June 2023.