A village that plants 111 trees for every girl born in Rajasthan

In an atmosphere where every morning, our newspapers greet us with stories of girls being tormented, raped, killed or treated like a doormat in one way or another, trust India's “village republics” to bring in some good news from time to time.

One such village in southern Rajasthan's Rajsamand district is quietly practicing its own, homegrown brand of Eco-feminism and achieving spectacular results.

For the last several years, Piplantri village panchayat has been saving girl children and increasing the green cover in and around it at the same time.

Here, villagers plant 111 trees every time a girl is born and the community ensures these trees survive, attaining fruition as the girls grow up.

Over the last six years, people here have managed to plant over a quarter million trees on the village's grazing commons- inlcuding neem, sheesham, mango, Amla among others.

On an average 60 girls are born here every year, according to the village's former sarpanch Shyam Sundar Paliwal, who was instrumental in starting this initiative in the memory of his daughter Kiran, who died a few years ago.

In about half these cases, parents are reluctant to accept the girl children, he says.

Such families are identified by a village committee comprising the village school principal along with panchayat and Anganwadi members.

Rs. 21,000 are collected from the village residents and Rs.10,000 from the girl's father and this sum of Rs. 31,000 is made into a fixed deposit for the girl, with a maturity period of 20 years.

But here's the best part.

“We make these parents sign an affidavit promising that they would not marry her off before the legal age, send her to school regularly and take care of the trees planted in her name,” says Mr. Paliwal.

People also plant 11 trees whenever a family member dies.

But this village of 8,000 did not just stop at planting trees and greening their commons. To prevent these trees from being infested with termite, the residents planted over two and a half million Aloevera plants around them.

Now these trees, especially the Aloevera, are a source of livelihood for several residents.

Copyrighted article. Blogging here to spread the word.

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Indian man single-handedly plants a 1,360-acre forest

A little more than 30 years ago, a teenager named Jadav "Molai" Payeng began burying seeds along a barren sandbar near his birthplace in northern India's Assam region to grow a refuge for wildlife. Not long after, he decided to dedicate his life to this endeavor, so he moved to the site where he could work full-time creating a lush new forest ecosystem. Incredibly, the spot today hosts a sprawling 1,360 acres of jungle that Payeng planted — single-handedly.

 

The Times of India recently caught up with Payeng in his remote forest lodge to learn more about how he came to leave such an indelible mark on the landscape.

 

It all started way back in 1979, when floods washed a large number of snakes ashore on the sandbar. One day, after the waters had receded, Payeng, only 16 then, found the place dotted with the dead reptiles. That was the turning point of his life.

 

"The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. I sat down and wept over their lifeless forms. It was carnage. I alerted the forest department and asked them if they could grow trees there. They said nothing would grow there. Instead, they asked me to try growing bamboo. It was painful, but I did it. There was nobody to help me. Nobody was interested," says Payeng, now 47.

 

While it's taken years for Payeng's remarkable dedication to planting to receive some well-deserved recognition internationally, it didn't take long for wildlife in the region to benefit from the manufactured forest. Demonstrating a keen understanding of ecological balance, Payeng even transplanted ants to his burgeoning ecosystem to bolster its natural harmony. Soon the shadeless sandbar was transformed into a self-functioning environment where a menagerie of creatures could dwell. The forest, called the Molai woods, now serves as a safe haven for numerous birds, deer, rhinos, tigers and elephants — species increasingly at risk from habitat loss.

 

Despite the conspicuousness of Payeng's project, forestry officials in the region first learned of this new forest in 2008 — and since then they've come to recognize his efforts as truly remarkable, but perhaps not enough.

 

"We're amazed at Payeng," says Gunin Saikia, assistant conservator of Forests. "He has been at it for 30 years. Had he been in any other country, he would have been made a hero."

Copyrighted article, taken from here

Legless Chinese man has planted 3,000 trees in 10 years

A retired veteran who lost both his legs has spent 10 years planting more than 3,000 trees on the sides of north China's remote mountains. Sixty two-year-old Ma Sanxiao is a former soldier. He lost both of his legs due to sepsis, a disease where blood is overwhelmed by bacteria. He had one leg amputated in 1984, the other in 2004.

But that has not stopped him from planting more than 3,000 trees on nearby mountains in Jingxing county in Hebei Province during the past 10 years. Ma gets before 5 a.m. every day, puts on his prosthetic limbs, climbs the mountains and plants trees.

It takes Ma more than 40 minutes to climb just hundreds of metres of mountain. Because he's not "climbing", he's "crawling". Ma said that after the first amputation, he was distressed. He sold everything valuable at home and ran into heavy debt.

He then began to plant trees in 2001 on the barren mountains nearby, hoping to earn money by selling the trees. Later his situation improved as the pensions for retired veterans increased. Ma decided never to sell the trees and just let them improve the ecological environment. "I plant more trees to make the mountains greener. As you see, the straight lines of trees are just like green soldiers of the nature," he said.

Developing an urban Forest

Mangrove conservation is 'economic' CO2 fix

Mangrove habitats comprise less than 1% of all forest areas across the world.

But for the biodiversity they support, and the benefits they bring to communities in the form of fishing habitats and storm protection barriers, they are extremely important.
They are also being lost at a greater rate than tropical rainforests.
Similar to rainforests, they store carbon within their "biomass", which is released when the habitat is destroyed.
Their ability to capture carbon may be on average five times that of tropical rainforests, so they have become of interest to carbon-focused conservation strategists.

Full article here

New Delhi, July 16 (IANS) Indian scientists have been successful in conserving 131 trees at the 800-year-old Ta Prohm temple in Cambodia, better known as 'Temple Tree'.
Experts from the Dehradun-based Forest Research Institute (FRI) along with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have been working on the Conservation and Restoration of Ta Prohm Temple (Cambodia) Project under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) of the external affairs ministry.
The team, which has been working there since 2007, has started seeing some good results with improvement in the health of trees which were in a bad shape, threatening the monument built in the late 12th century by Jayavarman VII of the Khmer empire in memory of his mother. The temple is a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Several movies, including the Hollywood blockbuster "Tomb Raider", were shot there.
Different species of matured and young trees, some standing on the ground and some on the walls and roofs of various structures, are seen in the temple premises.
The most common tree species is Tetrameles nudiflora, locally known as 'Speung'.
N.S.K. Harsh, head of Forest Pathology at the Forest Research Institute (FRI), said that before starting the project, they conducted a survey and found that of the 131 trees in the premises, 36 needed immediate attention.
"The trees were found under stress at the site due to heavy tourist pressure, soil compaction, injuries to exposed roots and stems, cavities in trees and exposed buttresses and basal rotting. Besides, a few trees were dangerously leaning and causing the walls and other structures to collapse under their weight," Harsh told IANS.
The tree height here ranges from 40 to 80 metres with huge trunks while the girth exceeds more than three metres in some cases and buttresses span up to 13 metres at the base.
The buttresses and roots are spreading all over the structures and ground, making them magnificent visual objects.
The institute's team carried out periodic treatment of the decayed portion of trunks, stems and roots of the trees by using eco-friendly material (an oleoresin tapped from a tree) followed by cavity filling with polyurethane foam and wax.
The exposed roots of trees were covered with soil in different sections. Periodic surface treatment with anti-fungal material on etched surfaces was prescribed.
A prop was provided to support a dangerously leaning tree and was designed to withstand its swaying and weight. A metallic support was designed and erected below a wall collapsing under the weight of the tree.
"I would say timely intervention by FRI has halted further deterioration of tree health. The trees are now in a better health and their life span has increased," Harsh said.
FRI has also carried out training classes for capacity building of local stakeholders so that they can continue the conservation work on their own post-2014 when the institute's contract ends.
Regular monitoring of tree health is being done to check the level of decay, insect attacks, phenological behaviour and emerging tree growth pattern.
This is not the first time that India is helping Cambodia in restoration of a heritage site. Indian archaeologists had successfully restored the world famous Angkor Vat temple in the country.
In India, the FRI has conserved the famous Bodhi tree ('pipal') in Bodhgaya, a direct descendant of the original tree under which the Buddha meditated. It has also conserved a neem tree in the Sai Baba temple in Shirdi in Maharshtra.

Article here

Farmland to revert to forest in China's green plan

Shrugging off accusations of rampant industrial pollution and the news that it has overtaken the US as the world's largest carbon emitter, China last week unveiled a conservation strategy for its flora.

The country is home to 10 per cent of all known plant species - half of those unique to China - and about 5000 species are under threat. The initiative involves a novel collaboration between three state agencies and London-based Botanic Gardens Conservation International. The plan is to safeguard China's plant diversity by allowing 15 million hectares of farmland to revert to forest over the next three years, extending nature reserves, protecting biodiversity hotspots and setting up a plant monitoring system. Farmland will also be managed to support wild plant conservation.

"The Chinese government is working hard to develop the economy and improve our sustainable environmental practices," says Jia Jiansheng of the department of wildlife conservation in the State Forestry Administration, Beijing.

Link here

Forest officer single-handedly reclaims 6,000 acres in 3 years

(Picture might be copyrighted)


In June 2008, when he took over as Nenmara Divisional Forest Officer in Kerala, P. Dhanesh Kumar was widely seen as a hunted man.
His daring interventions as Mananthavady range officer had got him into trouble with politicians and the ganja mafia.
Quotation gangs were unleashed against him. He was given police protection and an attack on the Mananthavady range office left a senior superintendent seriously injured.
Dhanesh was often advised by his seniors and well-wishers to quit Wayanad, if not for his sake then for his staff’s.
His transfer to Nenmara with a promotion as DFO, was seen as a way of keeping him safe as he had escaped death by a whisker a number of times in Mananthavady, Chalakkuzhy, Marayur and Attappady.
His right leg, injured in an encounter with cinnamon bark poachers, had been operated on. Then he lost the little toe of the same limb in another attack and it had to be attached surgically.
But if anyone expected him to lie low in the face of the threats and injuries, he soon proved them wrong.
Within a month of taking over as Nenmara DFO, the officer launched a one-man operation that environmentalists now refer to as ‘Operation Clean Nelliampathy’.
Between June 2008 and July 2011 he dug up documents, fought multiple court battles and suffered deep physical and emotional wounds to reclaim over 6,000 acres of illegally occupied forest land in Nelliyampathy, exposing lease violations of 32 estates spread over 4,000 acres in the process.
“Dhanesh did a great job. He took care of all legal loopholes and the evictions carried out on the basis of his report can never be questioned,” says Mr Harish Vasudevan, a lawyer who worked closely with the dogged officer.
‘Operation Clean Nelliyampathy’ began with attempts to reclaim the 462 acre Oruvambady estate, whose owners had allegedly secured a favourable verdict from the high court using fabricated documents.
“I knew that the land was notified as ecologically fragile and belonged to the forest department. A preliminary inspection revealed that a gang of land grabbers with expertise in forging documents was operating out of Nenmara,” Dhanesh recalls.
His battle was fought on two fronts; one in the musty backrooms of sub-registrar offices and the other in the court-room.
Dhaneesh was looking for original lease deeds and this meant digging up records dating back to the 19th century as most leases were granted in the latter half of the 1800s by the Kochi maharaja.
But, the job also required scouring archives to find British survey numbers.
A detailed investigation later, the irregularities detected included: violation of lease conditions and the Forest Conservation Act, encroachment of surrounding forests, use of forged documents and lessees holding on to land even after having lost cases in courts.
“During his stint in Nenmara, Dhanesh prepared at least six counters a day to present in court, each one running into 20-30 pages,” recalls Mr Vasudevan. Dhaneesh didn’t hesitate to spend from his own pocket either.
“Each forest division gets not more than Rs 10,000 a year for making photostats. But Dhanesh spent over 1.5 lakh annually on this. He is not the kind who would recover the money by fudging accounts,” the advocate adds.
But his mission to save the forests has cost him in other ways too. Because of the constant threats to his life, he has kept his wife and child at a distance.
“My son is now three years old. I hardly saw him for nearly two-and-a-half years while the Nelliampathy operation was on,” recalls the officer, who finally sought a transfer in 2011, after his dogged fight of three years to restore the state’s forests.

Article here

A Man Made a Forest and Lives Inside It

Read about Abdul Kareem in the following links who created a forest in a barren land.

Picture may be copyrighted. Courtesy Outlook India.
He lives in the thick of a forest, created by him
Article in Outlook
From Good News India
From Shekhar Kapoor

110 of the 200 left Syzygium travancoricum trees are here

The sacred grove of the Siva Vishnu temple at Kalassamala, near Kunnamkulam, in Thrissur will be designated the first Biodiversity Heritage Site of Kerala by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board.

The Board is finalising the steps for making the declaration and is organising a meeting of the stakeholders.

The nearly 3.5-acre grove has 110 Syzygium travancoricum (Kulavetti or Vathamkolli in local parlance) trees, a critically endangered species on the IUCN Red List. The trees, which grow in freshwater swamps, are endemic to India. The Red List says fewer than 200 of the species are left. The sacred grove of Aickad is reported to have four of them, while Guddrikal has 15 to 20. A major threat “faced by the trees is that the swampy wetland habitat has been widely drained and converted into paddy fields,” the IUCN says.

The board had earlier identified the sacred groves at Iringole, near Perumbavoor, the Paliyeri Mookambika temple in Kannur, the Conolly Teak Plantation in Nilambur, and Pathiramanal to be designated biodiversity heritage sites of the State.

The Biological Diversity Act, 2002, defines such sites as ecologically unique terrestrial, freshwater or marine areas, having rich biodiversity, with one or more of the components such as species richness, high endemism, presence of rare, endangered, and threatened species, keystone species, species of evolutionary significance, and sacred groves with wild relatives of domesticated biodiversity.

The State biodiversity Boards, in consultation with the local bodies and other stakeholders, shall designate such areas heritage sites and the State governments should issue the notification, says the Act.

The Kerala Board is planning to convene a meeting of the stakeholders shortly for completing the formalities regarding the declaration, said R.V. Varma, Chairman of the Board.

The temple authorities, including its trustees, will become the protectors of the unique ecosystem. The National Biodiversity Authority and the State Board will financially support the temple for protecting the ecosystem. The local panchayat can earmark funds in its plan for protecting the site. The only restriction will be a ban on cutting trees, Mr. Varma said. The temple authorities will play a crucial role in the management of the system when the local-level management committee is formed.

The views of the trustees will be considered while formulating the management plan and its implementation, he said.

M.K. Harinarayanan, Assistant Professor of Botany at Sree Krishna College, Guruvayur, who lives in the area, said the deep swamps in the area could not be crossed by feet. Most of the swamps had dried up or had been reclaimed over the years.

He said the extant swamp extended up to nearly one acre. A section of the local population depended on the critically endangered trees for firewood. Many trees were lost in the process, but some were regenerating.

Considering the ecological significance of the area and the presence of dolmens at sites near the temple, a comprehensive conservation plan needs to be evolved, Prof. Harinarayanan, a former assistant programme coordinator of the Kerala Board, said.

Painting by Ivan Shishkin

Article here

Indian Government Gives Forest Land to Industries! Protest this move!

More forest land for projects after PM intervention

The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has agreed to divert additional 25% forest land that was earlier categorised as no-go area for setting up projects concerning infrastructure ministries such as power, road and coal. This is after the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) stepped in and pushed the ministry to fast-track project clearances.

Government sources said the move has come as a huge relief for the industry, as around 30-50 projects will now be taken up for consideration. It will also provide access to some of India's best sites for natural resources deep inside forests in tribal areas. "We are working on the finer print," an official said.

Moreover, the ministry has said environment clearance for projects will come in 60 days and forest clearance in 180 days after all the documents are submitted. The environment ministry has also listed priority projects for consideration of its Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), which is mandated to examine each project with respect to its environmental impact.

The agreement was reached at the two meetings called by the Prime Minister's principal secretary Pulak Chatterjee on business projects over the last fortnight after a group of chief executive officers led by industrialist Ratan Tata met the PM and other central ministers.

The coal and power ministries had complained to the PMO that the environment ministry takes up to six years to clear projects, thereby leading to a shortage in coal supply and power generation. "Priority projects will be cleared within the deadline," an official said.

While the officials of coal and power ministries are happy with the development, non-government organisations (NGOs) are worried about its adverse impact on forests and the environment.

Over 100 NGOs from across the country will meet in Delhi this weekend to discuss ways to protect India's dwindling forest cover and degrading natural resources. The Centre for Science and Environment has analysed recent environmental clearances and found that the country saw more clearances than those planned for during the 11th and 12th five-year plans.

News here

'Saalumarada' Thimmakka - A Peerless Green Champion!

Thimmakka, aged 101*, is a native of Hulikal village in the Magadi taluk of Bangalore Rural district in Karnataka.

She has an unsurpassed credit to her name—some 1000 plus sturdy banyan trees, which she has lovingly tended against all odds, from mere saplings to a sweeping canopy.

Saalumarada Thimmakka (“saalumarada”—“row of trees” in Kannada—is an honorific people have added to her name) and her landless labourer husband Chikkannah could not have children. So one day more than 60 years ago, they started planting trees.

The road to the next village Kudur (Kudoor) was a dry hot one. Ficus (banyan) trees were aplenty near Thimmakka's village. Thimmakka and her husband started grafting saplings from these trees. Ten saplings were grafted in the first year and they were planted along a distance of 20 kilometres near the neighbouring village of Kudur. Fifteen saplings were planted in the second year and 20 in the third year and so on. She used her own meager resources for planting these trees. The couple used to carry pots of water for a distance of four kilometres to water the saplings. They were also protected from grazing cattle by fencing them with thorny shrubs.

The saplings were planted mostly during monsoon season so that sufficient rain water would be available for them to grow. By the onset of the next monsoons, the saplings had invariably taken root.

They covered the whole stretch. The saplings grew to become trees, the trees grew tall, and the couple rejoiced in their children. Chikkanna died in 1990, but Thimmakka continued her life’s work.

Thanks to her unusual labour of love, this illiterate woman is the idol of every environmentalist.

A "living monument of our times" is how the citation of National Citizen's Award describes Thimmakka.

Titles like Vanamitra, Nisargaratna, Vrikshasri and Vrikshapremi, an award by Karnataka government, among many others have been conferred on her.
For one who barely set out of her village once a year, Thimmakka now finds her way to Delhi and Mumbai for tree planting ceremonies. Thimmakka is busy spreading the message of afforestation. She unassumingly suggests that everybody should leave behind some asset for humanity.
She barely ekes out a living from various awards and a monthly pension. But nothing stops her from dreaming big. Now, she has made her will to open up a hospital in her village, so that no poor is affected.

Saalumarada Thimmakka, Hulikal-561101, Kudur, Hubli, Magadi Taluk, Bangalore-Rural dist.

Archive Video: http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/thimmakka-the-tree-lady/79918

*age discrepancy

‎"We need to be the change we wish to see in the world" - Mahatma Gandhi

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