Sustainable Green Initiative is an example of how a simple idea, when translated with passion and hard-work into an endeavour for the larger good of the society, can yield positive results
What good can come from planting trees, you would think. Global warming, pollution and the toxic air we breathe continue to cause far more damage than we can imagine. What good would be one more tree in a corner of the planet when the damage is already done? No chance to win this battle, right?
Wrong.
“Every tiny effort will make a difference,” says Raj Mohan, founder director of Sustainable Green Initiative (SGI), a social enterprise devoted to planting fruit trees in various parts of India in partnership with corporate houses, NGOs and institutions. With over XX fruit trees already planted in more than 40-50 locations all over India (and still counting), SGI was started in 2012 with the aim of benefitting people living in the nondescript villages of India, empowering and equipping them with livelihood through planting of fruit trees.
The idea was simple; it was not merely about digging the earth, planting a sapling, getting accolades and forgetting about it. Mohan’s independent research showed that several companies, NGOs and individuals would plant saplings but never follow up on how the trees were growing, getting looked after, or being nurtured. With no accountability on what was happening, many of the so-called “plantation drive” initiatives, Mohan observed, failed to make a difference in the long run. There was another pressing matter, which the Kolkata-based entrepreneur observed while planning his mission to plant trees — the need for tying the good “cause” of planting trees to have a lasting “effect” on people, thus impacting them in the most positive way. Here’s how: Mohan’s social enterprise concentrated on planting fruit trees with the aim to sustaining several farmers and communities in villages, many of whom continue to struggle to meet ends. Parts of Uttarakhand, Delhi, the NCR, West Bengal and Odisha have benefitted from the plantation drive initiative led by SGI.
The planting of fruit trees bears significance: It’s an endeavour to fight hunger, poverty, rural migration and global warming. The trees are planted in parcels of lands owned by marginal/ below poverty line farmers or in community-owned lands such as orphanages and old-age homes. In rural areas, SGI works through self-help groups that identify and work with marginal farmers and help by providing saplings and money needed to plant and nurture the trees for an initial period of one to two years. In orphanages, old-age homes and rural areas, a sapling planted and nurtured for two years grows into a (fruit) tree, which can provide sustained nourishment and income to the beneficiary for the next four to five decades.
Mohan explains the effect of this enterprise: A grove of 100 trees provides sustainable income to a family of four and ensures that they do not need to migrate to urban areas from their rural communities in search of food or livelihood. The money for the tree planting activity is raised from individuals, businesses and other social organisations as a tree planting, afforestation, corporate social responsibility or sponsorship activity. For instance, as an individual you can, on birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions, “gift” a tree in your loved ones’ names. So, if you’re based in New Delhi, rest assured, a “gift” on your behalf can benefit a family of farmers in Chandanpiri, a small village of sub marginal farmers in Sunderbans, West Bengal. It is the same area where cyclone Aila in 2009 rendered many homeless, deprived of their traditional paddy and fish cultivation. With over 3,000 trees to be planted in the region, SGI is an endeavor that takes a step closer to enriching the lives of many marginalised farmers and individuals in trying circumstances to gain empowerment.
Mohan’s enterprise takes care of all the nittygritty involved after a tree has been planted — the geo-tagging ensures you get a digital map location of where exactly your fruit tree is being planted. Over the next few weeks of your tree being planted, you’ll be sent pictures of how your tree is growing and how it’s being looked after by the family who gains sustenance from it in the long run. Gardeners and caretakers are employed by the company to nurturing these saplings into young trees. In Mulvany House, an old-age home in Kolkata, where a variety of trees (close to 500 fruit trees) were planted here, saw results in the first year itself. They’re no longer dependent on purchasing fruit at high costs from the market.
The dots get connected beautifully; a tree planted by you is nurtured by a family of farmers in rural areas (who obviously have the experience of nurturing saplings to their fullest potential) and in the course of the next one or two years, when it yields fruit, the tree sustains the very family that nurtured it. On your part: well, you helped a family in the best way possible by planting those nutritious banana, guava, apple, papaya and lime trees. The close monitoring by SGI volunteers ensures 80 per cent survival of the saplings into mature trees and into fruiting. Media reports indicate that several of the plantation drives fail in the long run with roughly 60 per cent of saplings not surviving due to sheer neglect. Mohan’s endeavour is not just reversing this trend in numbers. SGI’s aim is to impact the income of several of the households in the numerous villages of India where trees are being planted. This impact will be measurable from 2018 when many of these trees bear fruit in abundance. The initiative’s estimate is to increase the average household income by up to Rs 6,000 per annum.
Though there’s no dearth of tree plantation drive initiatives globally, what makes SGI special is how effectively it ties with sustaining communities and how the initiative is pumping accountability to ensure that saplings are nurtured into mature tree yielding fruit that benefit communities in the long run.
It is a reason why you, dear reader, should make a vow — to “gift” or plant a tree for your friend this birthday, to “gift” or plant a tree for your spouse on your wedding anniversary, to give your child a sapling on his or her birthday. Think about it: A tree planted from year one of your child’s birthday each year will be the ultimate way of saving the planet. If this isn’t securing your child’s future, what is?