An ambitious afforestation drive is on the cards in Uttar Pradesh as the state plans to plant 35 crore saplings this year, which shall fulfil the oxygen needs of crores of its people, once the saplings are fully grown.
The state has divided this year’s plantation drive over four days, beginning from July 5, with a special focus on developing Shakti Vans dedicated to women’s empowerment. A Shakti Van will be established in each of the 75 districts.
“On July 5, we shall plant 25 crore saplings which will be a mass movement. On July 6 and July 7, 5 crore more plants (2.5 crore on each day) will be planted,” said Arun K Saxena, forest and environment minister, addressing a press conference on Thursday.
“Shakti Vans will be developed at 90 places in 75 districts, with women doing the plantation, and especially those saplings that resemble women power,” said KP Malik, minister of state, for forests, climate change and environment, while addressing the press conference.
“The 35 crore plants will provide oxygen for 14.36 crore people in the future. A grown up tree provides 82,420 litres of oxygen per day, while an individual requires 550 litres of oxygen per day. Further, the saplings will absorb 18.55 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030,” said Saxena.
{{/usCountry}}“The 35 crore plants will provide oxygen for 14.36 crore people in the future. A grown up tree provides 82,420 litres of oxygen per day, while an individual requires 550 litres of oxygen per day. Further, the saplings will absorb 18.55 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030,” said Saxena.
{{/usCountry}}On August 15, the state will plant another 5 crore saplings to mark Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav under which 75 saplings will be especially planted in each gram panchayat.
There are also plans to develop city forests in over a dozen cities. “The geo tagging of all the plantation sites will be done. We were doing third-party survival evaluation for plantation sites maintained by the forest department but due to Covid-19 it was not done this year. We shall try and do it again,” said Mamata Sanjeev Dubey, HoD, forests. Each planted sapling’s information will be uploaded to the Haritima-Amrut Van App.
Apart from Shakti Van, there are plans to develop Bal Van for children.
According to the State of Forests Report 2021, 9.23% of the total geographical area of Uttar Pradesh has forest cover. In 2013 it was 8.82%. The government has now set a target of further enhancing this area to 15%.
Indigenous plants like banyan, peepal, pakad, neem, bael, amla, mango, jackfruit, and drumstick will get preference in the plantation drive. The nodal agency for plantation is the Forest Department. Besides, 26 other departments will participate in the grand plantation campaign.
“Choosing indigenous species will ensure they grow well and give ample oxygen, shade and nutrition. But we all need to ensure we save them till they grow. Local residents can play an active role in protecting planted saplings till they grow big,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary-general, Association of International Doctors.
Asked if the state was targeting any record plantation, Mamata Sanjeev Dubey said, “We plan to increase green cover and make people aware about plantation and sensitise them to save trees. Making a record is not the target.”
The target of each department is already set. In this respect, the highest target of 12.60 crore and 12.32 crore is for the forest and rural development department, respectively. Apart from this, the target of the agriculture department and horticulture department is 2.35 crore and 1.55 crore saplings, respectively.
Saplings’ survival statistics
Lucknow: Sharing the survival rate for plants planted during earlier drives, Mamata Sanjeev Dubey, HoD forests, said, “Till two years ago, the survival rate as ascertained via third party evaluation for forest department, was 95% and for plantation by other department it was between 70 to 80%. It is with plantation that our green cover has increased by 91 sq km.”