Maybe we all should do something like this even if its 10 perch plot.
Jadav “Molai” Payeng started his project 30 years ago when he was
still a teenager. Then, in 1979, flood waters washed a large number of
snakes ashore on the local sandbar in Jorhat, some 350 km from Guwahati.
When the waters receded, Payneg (who was 16 at the time) noticed the
reptiles had died due to a lack of forestry.
“The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. I sat down and
wept over their lifeless forms. It was carnage. I alerted the forest
department and asked them if they could grow trees there. They said
nothing would grow there. Instead, they asked me to try growing bamboo.
It was painful, but I did it. There was nobody to help me. Nobody was
interested,” said Payeng, who is now 47, to the The Times of India.
Payeng chose to live on the sandbar, starting a life of isolation as
he began work to create a new forest. Planting the seeds by hand,
watering the plants in the morning and evening, and pruning them when
required, he cultivated a huge natural reserve. After a few years, the
sandbar was transformed into a bamboo thicket.
“I then decided to grow proper trees. I collected and planted them. I
also transported red ants from my village, and was stung many times.
Red ants change the soil’s properties . That was an experience,” Payeng
recalled.
Over the years, the reserve has seen a huge variety of flora and
fauna blossom on the sandbar, including endangered animals like the
one-horned rhino and Royal Bengal tiger. “After 12 years, we’ve seen
vultures. Migratory birds, too, have started flocking here. Deer and
cattle have attracted predators,” claims Payeng . Unfortunately, locals
reportedly killed a rhino which was seen in his forest, something that
Payeng clearly disapproves of. ”Nature has made a food chain; why can’t
we stick to it? Who would protect these animals if we, as superior
beings, start hunting them?”
Read more:
Indian
Man Single-Handedly Plants 1,360 Acre Forest | Inhabitat - Sustainable
Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building
No comments:
Post a Comment