From baliparafoundation.com:
The Balipara Foundation in association with Mahila Shakti Kendra, 134 Ecological Task Force, Assam Investment Advisory Society, Forest Department, Assam and Assam State Rural Livelihood Mission planted over 2,84,722 trees in 78 villages in Balipara today to celebrate Van Mahotsav. The initiative saw participation from 9500+ households with 47,500+ individuals and is projected to impact more than 1 lakh people in Sonitpur district. This project will enrich green cover and build confidence, tolerance and collaborations between organizations working among forest fringe communities to restore forests and build social mobility in the area. This will hence amplify the collaboration and strengthen future joint projects.
Mr. Ranjit Barthakur, Founder and President of Balipara Foundation in his message says “Communitree is a landmark symbol of a great coming together of diverse stakeholders to nurture and secure our fragile natural assets, building deeply needed resiliency and adaptive capacities among both communities and biodiversity in the area. We need many more such large-scale cooperative efforts to emerge if we are to build a sustainable future for the Eastern Himalayas”
Following the plantation drive, the organizing team will be conducting an awareness campaign among the communities on the care and maintenance of the planted saplings, benefiting villagers in the long run. This in turn will relieve the pressure on arable land and will reduce depletion of forest resources due to over exploitation for timber and Non- timber Forest produce as livelihood sources.
Through this initiative, the Balipara Foundation along with Mahila Shakti Kendra, 134 Ecological Task Force, Assam Investment Advisory Society, Forest Department, Assam and Assam State Rural Livelihood Mission aims to educate people on the benefits of planting trees to reduce air pollution and create awareness on global efforts to address Climate Change. In the future, this project will be expanded to engage communities in smart agroforestry and other alternate source of livelihoods like mushroom cultivation etc. With this Balipara Foundation completes 12 years of its journey towards preservation of ecological civilization and biodiversity in the region through its proprietary concepts, Naturenomics™ and Rural Futures.