On the occasion of World Environment Day, ‘Amritavanam’ was launched at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore Campus, by Mr. T. K. Ashok Kumar (District Forest Officer, Coimbatore) on June 5, 2022.

Amritavanam is a unique concept with the objective to restore the natural rainforest ecosystem in the community. This approach involves planting 1000 nos. of native species close to each other in a 4000 square feet plot with no trees of the same kind is planted next to each other in this dense forest which is dedicated to a god or goddess and promotes local biodiversity. Within 3 years, this chemical fertilizer free forest becomes sustainable and maintenance-free.

300 students on the campus participated in tree planting for this green initiative which will provide environmental benefits like soil conservation oxygen release and absorption of greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide. This initiative was complemented by the launch of a green hackathon for students with the theme,  “Save Water, Soil, Earth” using Technology. These green initiatives will act as a force multiplier for the green and sustainable initiative of Amrita which has resulted in multiple recognitions such as greenest and cleanest campus in India twice by Ministry of Education of the Government of India as well as District Green Champion award in 2021.

Swami Ajamritananda Puri of Mata Amritanandamayi Math presided over the event and delivered Anugrahabhasanam, the benedictory address. Senior administrators of Amrita, Dr. K. Sankaran, Prof. C. Parameswaran, Dr. Sasangan Ramanathan,  Air Cmde. Satish Menon, Mr. P. Venugopal,  Dr. S. Mahadevan, Dr. Udhaya Shankar, Dr. Sudheesh MV and Asst. Conservator of Forest, Mr. Senthilkumar participated in the tree planting of the Amritavanam along with the students. Brahmachari Matrukripamrita Chaitanya coordinated the initiative. Mr. Hari Parthasarathy provided an overview of the Amritavanam initiative and Dr. Prashant R. Nair welcomed the gathering.