Mumbai: On the occasion of the World Environment Day (5 June), Grow-Trees.com, the exclusive Indian Planting Partner for United Nation’s Environment Program’s Billion Tree Campaign, and Vodafone India, one of India’s leading telecom services provider, today announced a novel private initiative to benefit the wildlife corridor between Kanha-Pench wildlife reserves by planting 3,00,000 trees over 3 years. The tree planting activities will be spread out over 100 hectares of forest land between the two reserves.
Handing over the first sapling to Mr. Pradip Shah, coFounder & Chairman of Grow-Trees.com, to formally launch the project, Marten Pieters, MD & CEO Vodafone India, said, “As a responsible corporate, Vodafone India is committed to initiatives that protect our environment and benefit the community. With this unique project, we will be able to offset the 33 million kg of carbon footprint generated by our offices every year for 3-years. In addition, we will be able to support livelihood opportunities, enable reforestation and facilitate habitat connectivity in tiger breeding areas. This is a win-win-win proposition for all – the organisation, the community and the environment, exemplifying the true spirit of sustainability.”
This project will create about 25,000 workdays of direct jobs mainly for women and tribals inhabiting the area in addition to supporting several allied livelihood generating activities such as farming, fruit and honey gathering etc. on a sustained basis. The site is in Sijhora Range and would be jointly protected by three villages – Majhipur, Jogisoda and Chandiya. A variety of trees, including Karani, Harra, Baheda, Bamboo, Khamer, Ladiya, Mango and Amla, that are local to the region will be planted. Saplings of these are already being grown in the special nurseries funded by Grow-Trees.com.
Speaking on the occasion, Pradip Shah, coFounder, Grow-Trees.com, said, “Approximately 45% of India’s land is degraded primarily due to deforestation, unsustainable agricultural practices, mining and excessive groundwater extraction. More than two thirds of this can be regenerated and our endeavour is to facilitate this by providing planting opportunities to individual and corporate customers. We are delighted to have Vodafone India as our corporate partner to support this novel project of wildlife corridors for enlarging wildlife habitats. The size and scale of this private reforestation initiative is the biggest till date in the country. The planting process on site will begin by early August, in the midst of the seasonal monsoon, and be led by our on ground partner FES.”
Source: Lokesh Shastri