Needed: A billion trees

 India Needs a Billion Trees.

The more the environment balance tips, the more it is becoming clear that tree-planting is the only way to address climate change and the ills of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Statistics reveal that it is only tree planting on a large scale that will make any dent in the mounting GHG numbers. Afforestation is emerging as the best “technology” to battle climate change. 

A recent report by Oxford University says that between now and 2050, planting trees and improving soil quality are two “most promising” technologies to address climate change.

We at Sustainable Green Initiative are committed to increasing the green cover and become one of the active partners in fighting climate change. Since our inception in 2012we have planted over 25,000 trees in 23 locations across India. Most of them have been in extremely polluted regions of metros such as Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru and Gurgaon. 

After all, we can’t stop taking those flights, can we? Neither will the manufacturing units simply stop growing, owing to the growth commitment they have made to their respective economies. There is no question of stopping the use of fossil fuels either, is there? Making renewable energy consumption a priority is a far cry still. 

Be it compensatory forestation by engineering, cement, pharma and other sectors with a large carbon footprint, or Central and state governments’ commitment to increase the green cover, tree planting is here to stay. Creating, recreating or protecting forest lands where new trees are constantly growing in place of old ones, creates a “sink” of carbon, thus sequestering the carbon footprint to a large extent. Consider this, for instance; the mangrove forests of Sundarbans, West Bengal, store around 4.15 crore tones of carbon dioxide in an area of about 2,118 sq km. Research also shows that with the mangroves under threat, this carbon sequestering is fast decreasing. 1000 coconut saplings to tiger widows in May this year and is planting 3000 trees in homesteads of marginal farmers. Within three years, these trees will not only become carbon-positive but also provide a subsidiary income.

We continue to look for active support and partnership with government bodies and organizations to achieve the target of One Billion Trees. 

At present, our afforestation initiatives include: 

Shastri Park: 15 acres off Kashmere Gate, Delhi.

Auxilium, Najafgarh, Delhi.

Anandashram, Gurgaon, Haryana.

BC Farm, Badshapur, Haryana.

Pratt Memorial School, Kolkata

Rabindra Sarobar, Kolkata, W Bengal.

Sports Authority of India, Eastern Region Complex, Kolkata, W Bengal.

Auxilium, New Town, Kolkata, W Bengal.

Ashabari, South 24 Paraganas, W Bengal.

4000 fruit trees for 120 marginal farmers in Lalitpur, Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh, India.

4000 fruit trees for Bundelkhand July 2017

In July 2016 SGI planted 2500 fruit trees in Bundelkhand. Thanks to the generous support of friends, we at Sustainable Green Initiative were able to plant 2500 fruit tree saplings around Lalitpur  - some of the poorest and drought prone villages of Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh, India. This was made possible with the active help of Ramit Basu , an engineer turned development expert and Basudev Singh, President, Bundelkhand Seva Sansthan an NGO working in this poverty stricken drought prone area for the last 25 years. Bundelkhand: where human beings like you and me had to resort to eating rotis made of wild grass. For all of us who had been reading reports of the 2015 drought across India, Bundelkhand stood out as the worst affected region. In early 2016 Ramit Basu and me decided to do whatever we could do about this situation. Ramit did a tour of the areas in March and with Basudevji, put together a plan to plant as many fruit and fodder trees in this area. With the help of friends and family, we at SGI put together enough resources to initiate a 2500 fruit sapling planting in two villages Sorai and Banhori Kalan of Mandavra block in the district of Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh.  Read More Planting fruit trees to help fight hunger, poverty and climate change 200 families were chosen based on their income levels, land holding and willingness to plant and most importantly - nurture the saplings.  This fruit tree planting was made possible from support of friends, our grateful thanks to Ramit Basu, Ranjit Krishnan, Kamaria Nanjibhai, Deepak Malhotra , Rajiv Prabhakar, Chitresh Mahindroo, Urmila Raturi, Manoj Veludasan, Ved Prakash, Madhumita Majumdar , Vs Srinivasan, Hema Sharda, Bundelkhand Sewa Sansthan Lalitpur, Rajiv Kalra, Murthy Nvs, Gurmeet Chawla, Pooja Joshi, Urmesh Suri, Arun Jain, Prithvi Raj, Sanjeev Verma, Pankaj Baveja, Amit Mahajan, Abhilasha Ojha, Shamik Bag, Ashish Aggarwal , Helen Cherry, Raujeev Taneja, Ihitashri Shandilya, Gyan S Rajhans, DP Singh, Nidhi Juyal, Shashank Thapliyal, Hanumant Singh, Gurubax Singh, Arunava Choudhury, Meenakshi Radhakrishnan & Rahul Shruti Joshi and Victor Das. In January 2017  we revisited the beneficiaries and planting sites to gauge progress Despite the harshness of the passing winter we were pleasantly surprised to see all the plants growing well, the villagers and staff of Bundelkhand Seva Sansthan have ensured that these trees will bear fruit soon. Keep Reading Upcoming planting: 4000 fruit trees for Bundelkhand July 2017 This year we aim to plant and nurture 4,000 fruit trees for 120 marginal farmers, fruit trees which will provide food and income in  Anaoura village, Lalitpur, Bundelkhand, UP, India. To contribute and to have a few fruit trees planted please click here .

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