Nature
Tree plantation
A sapling in a photograph is not yet a tree. Shreeji Sarvjeev Foundation plants with villages in dry rural country, and treats the months after planting as part of the work.
Why this work
Large parts of rural India live with uncertain rain. Dry belts across the Deccan and beyond face the same pressure on soil, shade, fodder, and groundwater. A tree that survives there cools a lane, holds soil, and can feed a household. A tree that dies in May is only a number.
We would rather plant fewer trees that are suited to the place than cover a hillside for a single morning. Native and drought-hardy species, chosen with the people who will live beside them, do better than ornamental saplings brought in for the day.
How a plantation is carried
The site is agreed first
School grounds, panchayat land, roadsides, farm boundaries, and common land are planted only with the consent of the people responsible for them. If nobody will watch the saplings, we do not plant there.
The species fit the soil
Neem, babhul, karanj, amla, sitaphal, tamarind, and other local trees are the kind of choice we make, always checked against what the village already trusts. Where grass or shrubs are the right cover, we do not force a plantation.
Planting follows the rain
Pits are prepared and saplings go in when the monsoon can settle them. Summer planting for a photograph is a waste of a living plant.
The first years are planned
Protection from grazing, and watering through the early summers where the village can support it, decide whether the work lasts. A drive includes that conversation, not only the planting day.
At a glance
- Where
- Drought-affected rural areas, with dry districts as a standing priority.
- When
- With the monsoon, once the soil can hold water.
- With whom
- Schools, gram panchayats, farmers, and local volunteers.
- What we ask
- A site someone will look after, and people willing to plant with us.
We do not publish tree counts we cannot stand behind. Survival matters more than a large number on a banner.