Plant a tree in Project Green Gujarat

About the state 

Gujarat is a state located in the west part of India. It has a very harsh climate and few rivers. Gujarat has a forest cover of 7.6 % and has one of the lowest land under forest in India. The state due to its long coastline and direct sunshine makes it ideal to grow more trees and make it greener. The project aims to plant more trees in the state along with famers to be helped in agroforestry. The overall impact aims to get at least 1 million trees planted in the state. The trees will be planted in the farmers fields under agroforestry and also on community lands and Panchayat lands. Water being in short supply, the trees like Khejeri, palm, babool, neem etc will survive and also give the farmers additional income by selling tree parts. Cashew is grown in Gujarat in large quantities and these trees grow fast. They also become an important source of nutrition for the wildlife that is found here. More Focus is on the growing of shrubs and small trees that can withstand the harsh climate and provide shade and food for the birds and animals. For every contribution, a minimum of 0.25 MT of carbon will be fixed by the trees along with benefiting farmers.

Impact in Numbers 

Number of trees to be planted 100,000

Carbon Fixed  300 Kgs per tree.

CO2 reduction from atmosphere by 1100 Kgs per tree.

Farmers to be positively impacted 2500

Ecological impact

The trees that are being planted are selected by the experts based on the soil conditions, water availability, temperature range, native trees. With more trees of different varieties planted, there will be food and shelter available for the animals and birds. Every tree that is planted is different and it helps in maintaining the biodiversity of the state. Every tree helps to preserve the life of animals and birds. Even providing the shade to wildlife helps in their survival. Breaking the dry winds can be done by trees and minimise the impact of wind and soil erosion.

• The trees planted shall help in controlling the soil erosion.
• The project shall be able to increase the number of trees that are less in number in the state.
• Increase in the overall green cover of the state. The state has forest cover of 7.6%. This needs to be increased to mitigate the growing pressure of the population.

Positive impact on farmers

• Farmers get high quality saplings to plant in their lands adjacent to the forests. Fruit trees, Timber trees, Medicinal plants.
• Increase in the farmer income by 10% over a 5 year period of time.
• Better economic conditions of the farmers help in getting education for the children, nutrition for the family.

About the project

The project is an ongoing project to help achieve increased greenery in the state. Under this project, sites are identified and farmer groups contacted for planting trees on their lands close to the forest areas. High quality of seedling of fruit trees, timber trees, medicinal plants, forest trees are identified and they are then planted on the lands of the farmers. The farmers are explained on how to raise them, best practices for the same and benefits that they shall be getting in the next 2 years, 5 years, 10 years and 20 years. A periodic visit of the experts is done for the same so that they can monitor the progress and also guide the farmers. The current condition of the farmers and forest cover is recorded and stored on e platforms. This is updated every time of the visit so that the improvement can be noted and measured. The project keeps on identifying new sites and farmer groups so that the benefit can be spread to all.

Technology

The trees are geotagged. The area boundary is marked using GPS. Farmer details along with the images. All the data is captured and stored through mobile apps directly from the field. Carbon fixing that is happening yearly is calculated by using the equations developed by the experts for different species in app and reports. Total transparency is maintained in getting the data, storing the data and analysing the data.

Impact assessment

The impact that is being created by the project for wildlife and farmers is measured. All data is captured in regular intervals and the same is analysed by comparing with the previous data on the same parameters calculated a few months ago. The change is measured against the planned results.

Reports

The project reports are prepared and sent to the contributors. The report covers the following

1) Trees status as on the last visit made

2) Any mortality in the trees planted

3) Carbon fixed in MT from the start of the project

4) Quantity of fruits that are being produced by the planted trees

5) Economic impact on the farmers.

6) Ecological impact created.