THE FOREST MAN OF INDIA: an inspiration towards combatting Climate Change
As the world stands on the edge of ‘Climate Crisis’, we are the cause and the cure of this man-made problem. While decades of industrialization have warmed the planet to its present alarming levels, there are solutions amongst us which possess the capability to cease these changes. Sadly, our tendency to dwell in technology as a solution often diverts us away from natural solutions that hold the key towards sustainable development. And the curious case of Jadav ‘Molai’ Payeng a.k.a. ‘The Forest Man of India’ is an extraordinary example of our natural solutions.
Payeng has single-handedly planted a forest over the last 40 years which has spanned across an area of 550 hectares (or 770 football fields), larger than New York’s Central Park. The forest named after him as ‘Molai Kathoni’ (Kathoni meaning woods) is presently the habitat for a wide range of biodiversity including tigers, rhinoceros, numerous other mammals & birds along with several thousand trees & plants.
Payeng was born in the indigenous Mising tribe of Assam, India. The Misings live on the banks of river Brahmaputra and are known for their sustainable ways of living. ‘Molai Kathoni’, located near Kokilamukh of Jorhat, Assam (India), is a result of Payeng’s rigorous efforts of planting & tending trees on a sandbar of river Brahmaputra. The story began in 1979, when Payeng, age 16, discovered that the flooding of river Brahmaputra and excessive heat after the floods had resulted in the death of snakes & trees, along with degradation of the sandbar. Payeng planted around 200 bamboo seedlings along the sandbar in order to develop a habitat for the remaining snakes. He was later engaged by the Social Forestry Division of the Forest Department as a worker for a tree plantation scheme on 200 hectares of land near Kokilamukh. While the project was abandoned after the initial three years with the workers moving to their newer jobs, Payeng chose to stay back in order to look after the saplings along with planting more trees on his own. What had then started like a teenager’s dream would later end up becoming his life’s mission, leading to the transformation of the entire area into a forest.
Until the last decade, only a few people beyond Jorhat & Majuli were aware of the forest which Payeng had planted. As the region had a huge portion of land under forest coverage, the exact spread of these woods was not available with the Forest Department. An incident related to the search of a herd of 115 wild elephants in 2008, by the Forest Department officials, which had caused damage in a nearby village led to the discovery of ‘Molai Kathoni’. The officials were astonished to discover such a large and dense forest in an area that had earlier faced massive environmental degradation due to ravaging floods & deforestation. In 2009, Payeng’s story was brought before the world by journalist Jitu Kalita of the Assamese magazine ‘Prantik’, after being tipped off by a Forest Department official. Kalita was surprised to learn that Payeng has been planting the forest, without any support or subsidy, for the last thirty years of his life.
Currently ‘Molai Kathoni’ has a rich biodiversity of plants & animals. There are more than 100 species of various indigenous trees & plants including hydrophytes, medicinal plants, aromatic plants, orchids, fruit trees, timber, etc. Around 300 hectares of the forest are covered by bamboo, spear grass and tall elephant grass; dedicated to the herd of more than 100 elephants which visits the forest every year and generally stays for around six months. The forest also shelters Bengal tigers, Indian rhinoceros, buffaloes, monkeys, deer, rabbits along with a large number of endangered vultures, in addition to other birds like wren, cranes, egrets, storks, swans, parrots, cuckoo, owl and numerous other birds. Presently the forest has all three tiers of the canopy. The inner core is known to be so deep that even sun rays can’t filter through and the entry is only permitted under the protection of forest guards.
In order to plant ‘Molai Kathoni’, Payeng has been walking and canoeing for 2 hours every day for a stretch of 3 months every year (before the onset of monsoon) for the last four decades. Payeng initially struggled to find suitable seeds in the area and would canoe to the mainland in order to collect them. But gradually, as years passed, the mature trees on the islets provided the necessary seeds & saplings required for further extension of the forest. Another challenging task which Payeng faced was watering a large number of saplings, as the forest gained volume with time. During the dry summers, Payeng used an indigenous drip irrigation system comprising of an arrangement of earthen pots & bamboo platforms erected over the saplings. Water from the river Brahmaputra was used to fill the pots, which would slowly drip the water over the plants along the course of one week. While transporting a huge volume of water from the river by buckets proved to be a humongous task for a single person, Payeng started planting the seeds right before the onset of annual pre-monsoon season. The appropriate choice of the season ensured that the plants received ample rainwater and were able to withstand winter until the next rain.
Payeng also undertook some indigenous techniques in order to increase soil health. To transform the sandy soil of the sandbars into fertile land, he ferried large amounts of cow dung, organic matter, and earthworms to the islet. The earthworms helped in improving soil fertility, as they burrowed into the silt hardened surface, making it porous and arable. In addition to it, the earthworms also fed on withered leaves and converted them quickly into much needed organic matter enabling plant roots to go deeper into the soil.
The rigorous efforts undertaken by Payeng, which led to the creation of such rich biodiversity, have been acclaimed and recognized across the world. Payeng has been honored in numerous public functions across India along with receiving the title of ‘Forest Man of India’. He was also honored with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India in 2015. Payeng has also been conferred with honorary doctorate degrees from Assam Agricultural University and Kaziranga University, Assam for his contributions. But every time Payeng receives an award, he humbly reminds the world that awards can’t prevent deforestation or increase the green cover unless every individual does their share of planting trees. While the increasing levels of greenhouse gases & deforestation are leading to a warmer planet, the intensity & frequency of disasters risks has also magnified due to climate change. In such cases, man-made forests like ‘Molai Kathoni’ can prove to be an effective tool against climate change & desertification. They can also reduce the impact of disasters like the flooding of the river Brahmaputra, which is threatening the existence of communities living along the river bank.
While Payeng still continues to plant trees along the sandbar, the recent scientific studies on climate change assert towards urgency in climate action from policymakers & individuals. In 2018, IPCC released the ‘Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C which emphasizes the urgent requirement of limiting global warming at 1.5 °C, in order to reduce impacts on ecosystems, human health along with controlling extreme weather, rising sea-level, depleting polar caps, etc. The report also emphasizes the requirement of ‘deep emissions reduction’ in order to achieve the target of 1.5 °C, which is only possible if we mobilize every possible resource available within our reach. Studies have shown that natural resources have the capability to be one of our main allies towards combating climate change. As global warming beyond the target of 1.5 °C has adverse impacts on ecosystems, approaches like ecosystem-based adaptation or nature-based solutions can be an effective way to prevent the rise in global temperature.
Surprisingly it has been observed that we tend to choose technological options over nature-based solutions; while initiatives like Payeng’s ‘Molai Kathoni’, have the capacity to capture one-third of the global CO2 emission between now & 2030. These initiatives include restoring / re-establishing / protecting forests, mangroves & other landscapes; capture carbon in the most cost-effective manner along with supporting more productive and resilient communities with social, economic and environmental returns. Increasing the forest coverage area with initiatives like ‘Molai Kathoni’ would enable one-quarter of the necessary carbon sequestration required to limit global warming to 1.5 °C.
In order to effectively combat climate change, which is a result of anthropogenic activities, we must focus on the inclusion of nature-based solutions along with the de-carbonization of our economies & energy systems. The nature-based solutions can be categorized broadly into: i. Forest restoration and/or protection (including agroforestry), ii. Restoration and/or protection of marine and/or coastal ecosystems, iii. Conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems in general & iv. Nature-based solution in adaptation planning or ecosystem-based adaptation.
Simply by allowing degraded forests to regrow, we can enable the capture of three billion tons of carbon annually for the coming 50–60 years, which can help us in the transition towards a low-carbon world. As nature-based solutions form an important part of adaptation & resilience approaches, they should not be viewed as pure mitigation solutions. Another crucial impact of degradation of ecosystems is the hindrance in the progress towards 80% of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where implementing Nature-based solutions would strengthen our efforts towards complying the targets of SDG 1: No poverty, SDG 2: Zero hunger, SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation, SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy, SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth, SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 13: Climate action. Goal 14: Life below water, SDG 15: Life on land. It should be noted that achieving the SDGs shall also enable the creation of 380 million new jobs by 2030 across the world and the Payeng’s strategy plays a key role in the sustainable development model for growth in Assam.
Recently the UN has warned that one million species are presently at the risk of extinction, along with threatened economies, food security, livelihoods, health & quality of life. In such cases, incorporating nature-based actions can contribute towards improving livelihoods and reducing inequality, securing food and water, improved resilience and disaster risk reduction and biodiversity conservation, in addition to the established climate benefits. In order to limit global warming to 1.5 °C, it is crucial for nations to raise their climate goals & ambitions as stated in respective Nationally Determined Ambitions (NDCs). Implementing Nature-based solutions can be a cost-effective opportunity for carbon sequestration for nations in order to enhance their NDC ambitions. Among various nature-based solutions, reducing deforestation provides the single largest opportunity to reduce emissions. Thus icons like Jadav Payeng can lead the way for individuals towards undertaking climate actions. But in order to propagate such an initiative, our efforts should also be backed with scientific evidences. Payeng had decided to choose only indigenous species of trees along with facilitating the right combination of several other factors that allowed him to expand his ‘Molai Kathoni’ to 550 hectares. What Payeng had initiated decades ago, today has been formalized in form of different frameworks like the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), REDD+ strategies and action plans, National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), etc. But tackling climate change requires efforts much larger than these frameworks. It requires each and every individual to play their role in protecting the environment. While Payeng has pledged to never stop and he still plants saplings on the bank of river Brahmaputra, we should play our role towards ‘greening this planet’. Most of us won’t be able to create our own forest, however, we can surely plant a tree in our own backyard and pledge to protect it.
