One lakh saplings will be planted on private patta lands at Chetpat in Tiruvannamalai district by The International Small Group Tree Planting (TIST). The planting will begin on the World Environment Day to be observed on Sunday.
Joseph Rexon, Director of TIST, said that the organisation is engaged in providing long-term revenue for the farmers of small groups through the sale of greenhouse gas credits (GhG).
The organisation trains farmers in other activities that have the potential to earn additional income and improve their health and livelihood. These include selecting different tree species for fruits, nuts and wood and helping them earn continuous carbon revenue for their live trees from TIST.
The organisation would maintain the saplings for 10 years and monitor the growth of saplings to trees.
Before taking up the planting the organisation had done due diligence of the property owned by the villagers, on whose lands the one lakh saplings would be planted. The planting work will be completed by the end of this year end, he said.
Cognizant Technologies had signed an agreement with TIST India to plant one lakh saplings. For this the organisation had identified 200 farmers and the saplings would be raised on 200 acres of dry wasteland.
After a few years the farmers could reap the rewards from the tree and the dry wasteland would be turned useful. The organisation will also plant 25,000 saplings for Wipro, which will help about 30 farmers and nearly 50 acres of dry wasteland will get transformed to useful land, Mr. Rexon said.
