Plant a tree in Project Green Karnataka

About the state 

Karnataka is a state located on the West coast of India. A very beautiful state with coastline, mountains and rivers. The state receives sunshine all year long and with good monsoon is an ideal place to grow trees.The wildlife consists of tiger, bison, leopard, elephants, snakes and many bird species. The state is known for its development, IT , industries and cosmopolitan culture. Due to rapid development, the forest cover in the state has been reducing over time.

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The forest cover in the state is at 20%. A large farmer base across the state also can be benefitted by planting trees and helping them get fruits to eat and sell. The project also aims to increase the farmers income by helping them plant fruit trees, medicinal trees, timber trees.The agroforestry part amins to address the farmers issues to increase income. Every contribution shall be used part with growing fruit trees and part shade and medicinal trees. A minimum of 0.25 MT of carbon per contribution shall be fixed.

Impact in Numbers 

Number of trees to be planted 200,000

Carbon Fixed  250 Kgs per tree.

CO2 reduction from atmosphere by 900 Kgs per tree.

Farmers to be positively impacted 5000

Ecological impact

Karnataka has amazing wildlife. To preserve the same, trees and plants that help animals and birds eat fruits and take shelter are needed. 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. Selective planting of the tree and plants will help in maintaining and increasing the biodiversity of the state.

• The trees planted shall help in controlling the soil erosion. With floods coming every year, more soil gets washed away and impacts the farmers and wildlife alike.
• The project shall be able to increase the number of trees that are less in number in the state. The trees that have been harvested for timber or are very less in number.
• Increase in the overall green cover of the state. The state has forest cover of 20%. 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.