Plant a tree in Project Green Punjab

About the state 

Punjab is a state located in the West of India. The state has alluvial soil with rivers and canals. It has an extreme temperature range. In summers it can go upto 50 degree celsius and in winters it’s near freezing. Due to the alluvial soil, almost all forest has been cleared and made way for agriculture. Extensive farming, use of pesticides, insecticides and the like have reduced the soil fertility. With climate change a real challenge, the impact is felt more every year on the temperatures. The project aims to increase the green cover in the state by planting trees.

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At the same time, planting trees on the village common grounds, Panchayat lands and periphery of the fields is the focus. The project aims to plant 1 million trees in Punjab and grow them. The state now has only 3.6 % of land area under forest. This is one of the lowest in the country. There is an acute need to increase the forest cover in the state. At the same time, Punjab has a large number of farmers. The project also aims to increase the farmers income by helping them plant fruit trees, medicinal trees, timber trees. Every tree that is planted will help the farmers get extra product to harvest and sell. This shall increase the economic status of the farmers. They shall be given very productive fruit trees. When they grow, they will fix carbon and also give nutrition to fruits to eat and sell. For every contribution, a minimum of 0.25 MT carbon shall be fixed.

Impact in Numbers 

Number of trees to be planted 50,000

Carbon Fixed  250 Kgs per tree.

CO2 reduction from atmosphere by 900 Kgs per tree.

Farmers to be positively impacted 500

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. There are dry winds that blow in this region and this causes the top soil to get thinner every year.
• 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 3.6%. 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.
• 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.