Isha Foundation has launched sapling planting drive under the Coimbatore Green School Movement. A release from the organisation said that it launched the Movement on February 24 in the presence of Collector M. Karunagaran and Chief Education Officer T. Rajendran.
The objective of the Movement was to plant saplings across the district to increase green cover. On February 24, the Movement planted around one lakh saplings and by the end of next month it would plant three lakh saplings.
A unique feature of the Movement, which was part of the Project Green Hands (PGH) initiative of the Foundation, was that children would raise the saplings. The connection the children had with the saplings would be more because they would see the birth of the plant from the seed. The Movement also accorded importance to involving children from middle and higher secondary schools.
The saplings raised in schools would be planted on the campuses, the localities the schools served and also would be shared with other schools.
PGH aimed at increasing Tamil Nadu green cover to 33 per cent, which was the statutory requirement. To do so, the Foundation needed to plant 11.40 crore saplings. It was working with non-government organisations, corporate companies, farmers, self-help groups and government agencies to achieve the objective.
The Foundation launched PGH on November 26, 2011. The Hindu is the media partner for the event.
