To mark the 50th anniversary of World Environment Day on June 5, social organisation Grow-Trees.com will honour celebrated actors Kajal Aggarwal and Pankaj Tripathi with tree plantation drives in Pench Tiger Reserve, Seoni (Madhya Pradesh) and Delhi.
Bikrant Tiwary, CEO of Grow-Trees.com, says, “We are planting a forest and dedicating it to Pankaj Tripathi in the periphery of Pench Tiger Reserve, Ramtek, Maharashtra) after successfully planting over 3,00,000 trees in the adjoining villages of Kanha and Pench National Park. Our Green Ambassador Pankaj Tripathi has been following our work for a long time and also has a strong personal connection with the environment."
He adds, "We are also planting a park in Delhi to honour Kajal Aggarwal and to bring attention to the capital's disrupted urban ecosystem where air pollution levels have reached alarming proportions. We will be planting Neem (Azadirachta indica), Kadamb (Neolamarckia cadamba), Amaltas (Cassia fistula), Arjun (Terminalia arjuna), Shisham (Dalbergia sissoo), Jamun (Syzygium cumini L.), Pilkhan (Ficus virens) trees across Delhi and these will work as carbon sinks, expand the habitat for indigenous wildlife species and also improve the overall air quality.”
Pankaj Tripathi says, “I feel so grateful that hundreds of these trees will help repair the fragmented corridors in the Pench Tiger Reserve, especially because without linkages, tiger populations are isolated within individual tiger reserves and face the risk of extinction. It was also very interesting to find out that Grow-Trees.com also helps rural communities by not just engaging them in plantation efforts but also by preventing animal-human confrontations via the expansion of tiger habitats."
"The plantation of indigenous, local species like drumsticks, custard apple, neem, amla, shisham, jamun, will also counter the current practice of monoculture plantation and increase biodiversity in Pench. I believe, a single seed can start a forest and one positive intention can spark a collective movement," he avers.
Kajal Aggarwal adds, "This year's theme for World Environment Day reminds us that we have 'Only One Earth' and we must do everything possible to protect it. I am honoured that Grow-Trees.com has recognised my love for trees and nature, chosen me as their Green Ambassador and is planting in my name, a garden of trees in Delhi. I resonate with their mission of planting trees in cities, around wildlife sanctuaries, tribal belts and just about any area where ecological balance and biodiversity have been disturbed."
Bikrant concludes, “I recently read UN Secretary-General António Guterres' message for World Environment Day where he said that we are asking too much of our planet to maintain ways of life that are unsustainable. He added that it is vital to safeguard the richness and diversity of life on Earth, its ecosystems and its finite resources. We will continue to fight for our planet in the only manner we know -- by planting more and more trees.”
