Hundreds of thousands of people in India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh are jostling for space as they attempt to plant 50 million trees over the next 24 hours in hopes of setting a world record. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
In the first real show of a $6 billion commitment to reforest India, the country planted nearly 50 million trees in under 24 hours. Suddenly, India’s goal of reducing pollution and reforesting 12% of the country doesn’t look nearly as far-fetched.
The 24-hour event took place last Monday, July 11th, where more than 800,000 people from Uttar Pradesh took part in planting trees around India’s northern states. The volunteers in total planted 49.3 million tree saplings from 80 different tree species, all sourced locally from nurseries in Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous state made the Guinness World Records for the most trees planted in a single day, the previous record held by Pakistan, which planted 847,275 trees in a day in 2013. The trees were planted along highways, railroad tracks, small roads, and publicly owned forests.
As part of the Paris Climate Agreement signed on Earth Day 2016, India designated $6.2 billion towards an afforestation effort across India to bring India’s forest cover to 235 million acres by 2030. The central government has encouraged all of India’s states to take part in tree planting campaigns similar to Uttar Pradesh.
One concern, however, is the mortality rate introduced when planting such a large quantity of trees in a short period of time. Lack of water, disease, and the inability to care for all trees in the fragile few months after planting leads to as high as a 40% mortality rate. The trees, and larger reforestation effort, will be monitored through aerial photography at regular intervals.
“The world has realized that serious efforts are needed to reduce carbon emissions to mitigate the effects of global climate change,” Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s quote about the need for reforestation, and reported by the AP.
The timing couldn’t be any more necessary, with 6 out of the top 10 most polluted cities in the world coming from India. Planting 50 million trees is a start, but there’s certainly a lot more work to be done to regain some semblance of clean air within India’s cities. Many other cities around the world should use this as motivation for similar campaigns for reforestation. Through planting trees, you significantly increase air quality; reduce greenhouse emissions, and re-establish habitats for wildlife.
Trevor Nace
Source: forbes.com
