Engineering students aim to protect India’s sacred groves
CQUniversity’s Engineering students are building strong foundations with communities in India, by collaborating on a project to save its sacred groves.
The students participated in the Amrita Live-in Labs® Program through Amrita University as part of the ‘Humanitarian Engineering Project’ component of their Engineering studies at CQU.
CQU Humanitarian Engineering Discipline Lead Associate Professor Shameen Jinadasa said four students recently visited Kerala where sacred groves are widespread and are a haven for local flora and fauna but under threat from the impacts of climate change.
“By measuring the carbon sequestration of these groves, the study aims to demonstrate the link between these culturally significant sites directly to climate change mitigation efforts,” Assoc Prof Jinadasa said.
“Developing a method of determining the carbon stored within these groves might help justify the preservation efforts for these groves and lead to necessary legislation to protect them further.”
The CQU students worked closely with the communities and students from Amrita University, gathering data on the groves.
Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) student Mandy Mbiza said the trip to Kerala was both educational and transformative.
“It provided me with practical insights into real-world conservation challenges and reinforced key concepts from my degree, such as sustainable land management,” she said.
“The trip deepened my understanding of both environmental conservation and the cultural significance of the sacred groves ecosystems, which offered a new perspective on the intersection of nature and spirituality. Also, it made me appreciate the role of Indigenous knowledge in conservation efforts.”
The future plan for the project is to be able to measure factors such as temperature, humidity and air quality within the sacred groves over long periods of time to be able to assess how the groves are a vital part in carbon sequestration.
Regular monitoring will help track changes within the groves, providing data that could be used to support local communities in protecting these vital ecosystems.
Amritesh AR, a PhD scholar from Amrita University’s School for Sustainable Futures, is researching the groves and said he enjoyed collaborating with the CQU students.
“In the Sacred Grove Project with CQUniversity, I supported the students by introducing them to the concept of sacred groves and helping them choose a research focus on carbon sequestration within these ecosystems,” he said.
“Since they were unfamiliar with the cultural and ecological background, we conducted a pilot visit to nearby sacred groves to provide them with initial insights.
“Given the limited time for the project, I assisted in identifying a suitable sacred grove and facilitated logistical arrangements for their fieldwork. This included organising interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs), and other data collection activities.
“My primary role was to support the social and cultural aspects of the research, which also enriched my understanding of my own PhD topic.
“Interacting with CQU students was a valuable experience, allowing for an exchange of knowledge and perspectives. Their technical expertise, combined with my background in sociocultural aspects, created a multidisciplinary learning experience that enhanced the research process.”
Associate Prof Jinadasa said ultimately the CQU students learned how to approach engineering solutions from a different perspective.
“By talking with the local people, the students will see it firsthand and use the experience to design something for the people,” he said.
“This is not just about engineering, but also human-centred design and making them into more humanitarian engineers.”
According to the Amrita University website, Live-in-Labs® is a multidisciplinary experiential learning program that breaks classroom and lab barriers by applying learned theory in real-world settings.
This credit-based academic program draws on principles of lean research for the development and deployment of sustainable solutions for current challenges faced by rural communities in India.
By directly living in rural communities (labs) and co-designing sustainable solutions program participants gain first-hand knowledge along with the know-how of identifying and assessing community needs.
Subsequently viable solutions are developed and implemented through various participatory methods.
