SankalpTaru Foundation

In Uttarakhand, located at the foothills of the snowclad Himalaya mountains, annual forest fires damage the precious flora and fauna of the region. 

The SankalpTaru Foundation launched a Community Land Plantation Program called Project Protect Himalayas to greenify the region and protect trees from recurrent forest fires. The initiative includes planting fruit-bearing trees as well as pine trees and native tree species such as Oak, Cedar, and Kachnaar, which prevents soil erosion and landslides, helps to recharge groundwater, provides oxygen, and improves biodiversity. The majority of the work is conducted by women, facilitating women’s empowerment in the region.

Since the program’s inception:

• 400,000 trees have been planted
• 267 million tons of CO2 have been sequestered
• 513 million tons of O2 have been released
• 9 million tons of fruit have been produced

With support from IDS:

• 2,000 trees were planted
• 1,000 cubic tons of CO2 absorbed from these trees

Through afforestation, the SankalpTaru Foundation is helping to protect the Himalayan ecosystem while shielding the community from the effects of forest fires and climate change.

Meet Premvati

Premvati comes from the Thauldar village of the Tehri district and lives on a half acre of land. Her family cultivates plants to earn a meager living, and often faced difficulty in arranging for a sufficient water supply to cultivate their plants. They also had to fend off wild monkeys that often desolating all of the yields that they could afford to grow. In order to shield their plants from this destruction, they built an electric fence around their land. However, one day, Premvati accidentally touched the fence when tending to her land in the darkness of night, leaving her disabled.

The team of SankalpTaru decided to help Premvati and her family, planting 200 apple, khumani, and plum trees and building a water tank to supply the trees with water and secure an income for her and her family. Two years later, the trees have produced enough fruit for Premvati to sell in order to support herself and her family.