Project “Aashi Upavan”: Cultivating Greener & Sustainable Future through Afforestation and Soil Conservation
A Project Report by Mithil Gada, High School Senior, Nalanda International School, Vadodara
INTRODUCTION:
“Aashi Upavan” means a small joyous forest. With a fervent belief in environmental responsibility and sustainability, I initiated and dedicated this grassroot project to raise awareness and showcase practical baby steps that can be taken towards afforestation and soil conservation which can reap long lasting benefits in the future. Through this report, I intend to share the journey, motivations, and outcomes of this self-driven initiative spanning over three years with a hope to inspire others to take similar initiatives and volunteer efforts to adop sustainable soil practices and enhance green cover in their communities.
BACKGROUND:
This project stemmed from an experiment and a dinner table discussion turning into a school assignment at the beginning of my high school years. Having learned about the crucial role of soil sustainability, trees, and the environment on Mother Earth, this project was fueled by the realization and recognition of the critical role organic fertilizer, soil nutrients, microbes, and afforestation play in mitigating environment and soil degradation. Disturbed by the rapid depletion of these precious resources through deforestation, contamination, and erosion — thereby threatening biodiversity and food security for all beings, I embarked on this journey to find potentially simple solutions and undertook this initiative as an example seeking to address the pressing need for adoption of sustainable soil management practices and enhancing green cover. Through research, consultation with experts and help from volunteers, the project was born with a focus on promoting and developing an easy method of making bio-organic fertilizer for sustainable soil management and complementing it with afforestation to maintain biodiversity.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Project Aashi Upavan encompasses two primary objectives through community engagement:
1. Promote & raise awareness about the importance of enhancing green cover utilizing cost-effective methods. This is achieved by establishing inhouse nursery and collaborating with volunteers, friends, family, and local farmers to plant trees and distribute free saplings and seed bombs of indigenous tree species like neem, mangoes, moringa, sandalwood, badam, sewan, jamun etc.
Plant Nursery: Our plant nursery serves as a vital resource for cultivating and nurturing young plants(saplings) until they are ready for transplantation into their permanent environment. It provides us with a controlled environment conducive to the growth and development of plants and serves as a reliable source of healthy saplings for plantation and distribution during monsoon plantation drives.
2. Promote & raise awareness on sustainable soil management practices involving utilization of bio-organic fertilizer to enhance soil health, soil biodiversity and soil conservation. This was achieved in-house by developing a low-cost anaerobic bio-digester prototype capable of producing bio-organic liquid fertilizer from organic food waste and cow dung slurry.
Anaerobic Bio-digester: An anaerobic bio-digester is a digester that operates in the absence of oxygen to break down and decompose organic matter, such as food waste and cow dung, through anaerobic microbial decomposition (the process of organic compounds decomposing through the action of living organisms that don’t require oxygen). This process produces biogas, a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide, along with a nutrient-rich liquid known as bio-slurry or bio-organic fertilizer. Anaerobic bio-digesters offer a sustainable solution for managing organic waste while producing valuable byproducts for agricultural use.
RESULTS AND OUTCOMES:
Over the course of 3+ years, the efforts at “Aashi Upavan” have been able to deliver the following:
· Established over 20K+ saplings in nursery beds and produced thousands of seed bombs for plantation and distribution during monsoon plantation drives. Direct contribution of planting over 10K+ trees during monsoon plantation drives.
· Developed and distributed tens of functional low-cost anaerobic bio-digester, capable of producing bio-organic liquid fertilizer from organic food waste and cow dung slurry sufficient to fertilize up to 1 acre of land per month.
CONCLUSION:
Project “Aashi Upavan” stands as a testament to the power of grassroots efforts and exemplifies the power of individual initiative in addressing pressing environmental challenges in front of us. Through passion, dedication, collaboration, community involvement and innovation, the project has demonstrated the potential for grassroots efforts to make a meaningful impact on promotion of afforestation and soil conservation. After all, it is forests where the earth’s soil is in the most joyous, natural and balanced form, full of life and biodiversity allowing the forests to thrive and beneficial microbial ecosystem in the soil to rebalance.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
As I reflect on the 3+ years of journey thus far, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who have been contributing to the “Aashi Upavan” project. Special thanks to volunteers, supporters, farmers, mentors, friends, and family members whose unwavering emotional and financial support has been instrumental in realizing our shared vision of a greener, more sustainable future.