One of the most polluted countries on Earth, India is finally showing a few good results and harbors inspiring examples.
Two years ago India crushed a world record and trust me it is a good one. A beautiful performance, carrying a message of Hope. A record that needs to be reminded this week, in the memory of a man mourned by his country. He was known as The Tree Man.
66,75 million trees planted in one day
Deforestation is one of the biggest crisis of our time. With more than 80% of the natural forest cover of our planet disappearing over these last 30 years, some of us may have even started losing faith in a brighter, greener, tomorrow. But not everyone has given up on mother earth’s health issues. Countries such as Equator, Philippines, and Costa Rica have pulled up their sleeves and dug their fingers into the ground to start (trans)planting new tree lungs and giving future generations a second breath. And now, India can be accounted in the ranks of The Ecological Transition.
On July 2017, in the state Madhya Pradesh, an important project of reforestation reunited more than 1.5 million volunteers across the country, who planted 66,75 million trees in only 12 hours! Breaking the record they settled the year before (50 million), and the Equatorian one, another year prior (650 000 trees).
A great performance that still looks like a small step when we turn our attention towards the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN) reminding us that approximatively 7.6 million hectares are being destroyed each year over the globe and only 4,3 are replanted. This leads us to an annual lost of 3.3 million hectares a year.
credit: independant.co.uk
Vishweshwar Dutt Saklani, A Fallen Hero
On the 18th of January India cried the loss of one of its most symbolic figures in the Reforestation program. Vishweshwar Dutt Saklani, a “freedom fighter”, also known under the name of Vriksha Manav or the Tree Man, peacefully died after an entire life dedicated to the preservation of India’s forest coat. He allegedly planted an estimated 5 million trees across 100 hectares in the province of Saklana Valley, situated in the Tehri Garhwal district.
Ten years before he fell asleep for the last time, the legend had already lost the use of his sight after a lifetime in the dust and the mud doing what he loved the most: Planting Sapling trees.
It is said he first starting doing it as a coping mechanism to grieve the loss of his brother, and then his wife. His second one said to the Hindustan Times:
“Trees were his everything. He used to say; trees are my family, my parents, my friends, and my world. He did not wish to see the world because for him every tree was a world of its own.”
credit: hindustantimes.com
So, Environmental politics are continuously being put forward… but is it enough?
Let us not forget that India is still one of the most polluted countries in the world, as illustrated by that relevant chart put together on Wikipedia from the World Health Organisation last annual reports:
Ten among the eleven most polluted cities in the world are in South Asia’s largest Republic. Thus, explains the high number of offices the ministry of environment counts, which is 14. India has still a long way to go, but at least it has taken the path of change, or at least its population has. According to The National Green Tribunal (created in 2010 to control India’s Financial and Development investments stay as “eco-friendly” as possible), projects of new massive harbors and waterways lack environmental clearance…
Eventually, like every environmental enterprise, we will have to wait for another decade to see the results…
