Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
Nadu, PGH is reestablishing the power of individual action for large-scale
change. Government institutions, NGOs, corporate partners, and individuals
have pitched in to grow saplings and plant trees, and to support the effort.
Through its activities, PGH aims to inspire people around the world to
appreciate the true value of trees and the vital role that they play within human
environments.
During the year 2010, Project GreenHands was awarded India’s highest
environmental award, the Indira Gandhi Pariyavaran Puraskar. On 30 Sep 2010,
PGH was declared winner of “Beyond Sports Award 2010” in the Sports for
Environment category in the award function at USA. Recently PGH won the
“Environmental Award – 2010” from Department of Environment, Government
of Tamil Nadu.
PGH has so far successfully enabled the planting of over 30 million saplings in
Tamil Nadu with the support and participation of over 2 million people.
Establishing nurseries to raise quality planting material was an important step
to be able to facilitate tree plantation at the scales PGH imagined. PGH has been
successful in establishing and running 35 nurseries across the state through
which on an average 4 million saplings are produced every year. 84 different
tree species (combination of fruit, fodder, timber, flowering and avenue trees)
endemic to Tamil Nadu are raised in these nurseries. School children, college
students, corporate employees, Isha volunteers, nature enthusiasts take part
in production activities like filling pockets with soil, transplanting seedlings,
watering etc. Earlier if someone wanted to plant trees they had to travel long
distances to procure tree saplings. Now with the network of nurseries this
definitely has reduced.
These saplings are offered to anyone who pledges to take care of the tree for
a minimum of two years. Awareness programs are organized in educational
institutions, offices and public functions, where saplings are distributed. These
saplings become the dynamic, living hearts of the PGH movement.
A detailed note on the various programs run by PGH in Tamil Nadu is provided
as Annexure 14.
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