Walked the forest
Studied the biodiversity and characteristic plant species up close, across the terrain.
Aura’s first international project
We didn’t just plant trees.
We didn’t just plant trees.
We protected something bigger.
Ella, Sri Lanka — a thousand hectares of hill-country forest, three endangered medicinal species, and time spent learning what the place actually needed.
0
hectares of forest studied
0
endangered species replanted
Ella
Sri Lanka’s hill country
2026
March, on the ground
The context
A thousand hectares, and species found almost nowhere else
Ella, in Sri Lanka’s hill country, holds a forest that runs to roughly a thousand hectares — a dense, humid ecosystem sheltering plants that grow in very few other places on earth. Several are endangered. Several have been used in Ayurvedic medicine for generations.
In March 2026 a team from Aura Environmental Services Pvt. Ltd., led by founder Mahesh Maradiya, travelled to Ella to understand that ecosystem first-hand — not as visitors, but with the question we bring to every site: what is actually here, and what does it need?
We didn’t just plant trees here — we protected something bigger.
Mahesh Maradiya · Founder & Managing Director, in Ella
On the ground
As much listening as measuring
Understanding a forest means understanding the people who live beside it.
Sat with the community
Met local communities and forest officials to learn how the forest is managed and what threatens it.
Identified what was at risk
Singled out species under pressure — rare and medicinal plants, and the plants pollinators depend on.
Put three species back
Planted three endangered medicinal species into the habitat they belong to.
What we planted
Three endangered species, chosen for what they hold together
Not for how fast they grow — for what the ecosystem loses without them.
Endangered · Medicinal
Wesak Orchid
Sri Lanka’s celebrated orchid, now rare in the wild and closely tied to the island’s cultural calendar.
Endemic · Under pressure
Anoectochilus regalis
A jewel orchid of the forest floor — endemic to Sri Lanka, and among the first to disappear when the understorey is disturbed.
Hill country · Pollinator support
Rhododendron
A hill-country species that anchors the upper forest and feeds the pollinators the rest of the system relies on.
Planting a fast-growing tree adds cover. Returning an endangered, pollinator-supporting, medicinally significant species to its own habitat repairs a link in the chain. The second is slower, harder, and worth more.
From the field
Watch it happen
Filmed in Ella by Mahesh Maradiya. If the videos don’t load, watch them directly on Instagram.
Ella Forest, Sri Lanka — three plants, a bigger responsibility
We didn’t just plant trees — we protected something bigger
Why it matters
Responsibility doesn’t stop at a factory boundary — or a border
Our work in Gujarat is largely about holding industry to a line: measuring what a plant discharges and proving it stays inside the limit.
Ella was the other half of the same conviction. The species planted there will outlast the trip — and the relationships built with the community and the forest officials outlast the planting.
Explore green belt developmentProject at a glance
- Ella, Sri LankaHill-country forest
- ~1,000 hectaresBiodiversity studied
- 3 endangered speciesAyurvedic medicinal plants
- Community & officialsLocal partnership
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