Now, Plant A Tree Virtually As Corporates Go On Planting Spree!
FROM virtual tree plantations (getting trees planted at a click of a button) to creating entire wildlife corridors, corporates are being unabashed about what has been the traditional (and sometimes derided) wp quickie. With the new wp provisions being implemented in the current financial year, India Inc looking to reinvent the wheel in two ways: scale and follow-up. Their tree plantation initiatives are setting two companies apart from the galaxy of corporates who are undertaking tree plantation drives to adhere to the new norms – mining major Cairn India has come up with an ingenious plan of crowd-sourcing online tree planters, while Vodafone has announced plantation on a massive scale to create a wildlife corridor in Madhya Pradesh.
Cairn’s carbon reducing initiative, called Project Shrishti, actively involves employees and the general public to contribute towards a greener environment by letting them plant trees through a virtual platform. Each virtual plantation is followed up with a physical plantation at site and the user gets an email alert with updates on his sapling. Till date, the company says, nearly 3.25 million trees have been planted over 497 hectares of land through this project, some 2300 people having planted trees through the online process. So how does it work? Simple.
- You log in to the website http://shrishti.cairnindia.com, click on Start Planting,
- Enter your name and email address
- Select the location
- Tag your tree with a cause,
- And it’s done!
- You will get a certificate on your email address and your tree will be tagged with your name and cause.
Cairn India says it has a dedicated team for this initiative who regularly visits the site and monitors the growth of trees. The company has even substituted lamp lighting with virtual tree plantation in all its events and conferences.
Meanwhile, just last week, scaling up in a manner that befits its size, telecom major Vodafone India, in partnership with Grow-Trees.com, has committed to plant a whopping 300,000 trees in Kanha-Pench in Madhya Pradesh to develop India’s first private wildlife corridor. Grow-Trees.com is the Indian Planting Partner of the United Nation’s Environment Program’s Billion Tree Campaign. The corridor is being developed between Kanha-Pench wildlife reserves by planting 3,00,000 trees over a 3-year period. The trees will be planted over 100 hectares of forest land between the two reserves.
Says Rohit Adya, External Affairs Director, Vodafone India, “With this unique project, we will be able to offset 33 million kg of carbon footprint generated by our offices every year for 3-years. In addition, we will be able to support livelihood opportunities, enable reforestation and create a corridor between Kanha and Pench to facilitate habitat connectivity in tiger breeding areas.”
Given the state’s rich and diverse forest resources (25 percent of the state is covered in forests, Ashish Chandra, Business Head – MP&CG, Vodafone India, said the initiative would provide a source of income to thousands, particularly the tribal population. Said Chandra, “This initiative with Grow-Trees.com is our way of supporting conservation of an importance natural resource and means of livelihood.”
Vodafone’s project aims to create about 25,000 workdays of direct jobs for tribals in the area, in addition to supporting several allied livelihood generating activities such as farming, fruit and honey gathering etc. on a sustained basis. The site is in Sijhora Range and would be jointly protected by three villages – Majhipur, Jogisoda and Chandiya. A variety of trees, including Karani, Harra, Baheda, Bamboo, Khamer, Ladiya, Mango and Amla, that are local to the region will be planted.
