This story is from June 5, 2020

Kerala to plant 81 lakh saplings on Friday

The government has formulated a plan to plant 1.09 crore saplings in Kerala this year as part of World Environment Day celebrations. On Friday, 81 lakh saplings will be planted and the remaining 28 lakh saplings will be planted from July 1-27. With schools remaining closed, this year saplings will be distributed by panchayats and municipalities.
Kerala to plant 81 lakh saplings on Friday
Representative image
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government has formulated a plan to plant 1.09 crore saplings in Kerala this year as part of World Environment Day celebrations. On Friday, 81 lakh saplings will be planted and the remaining 28 lakh saplings will be planted from July 1-27. With schools remaining closed, this year saplings will be distributed by panchayats and municipalities.
The saplings for the campaign titled, ‘One Crore tree umbrellas for earth’ will be readied by forest and local self-government departments.
Around 12 lakh jackfruit, mango, mangosteen and rambutan saplings were readied by workers under NREGS. School students are expected to join phase-II in July when schools are likely to reopen.
Haritha Keralam Mission will announce the expansion of ‘green isle’ (pachathuruthu) project to 1,000 more locations. The green isle project – launched on June 5 last year, turned out to be a huge success with 627 isles created within a year. These tiny forests –where fruit trees, shrubs and medicinal trees are grown – are spread over 536 acres in 370 local bodies.
One of the significant features of this project is that each isle tries to protect the local biodiversity by nurturing ingenious variety of plants. Kodumon in Pathanamthitta and Elikkulam in Kottayam have achieved ‘total green isle panchayat’ distinction by creating green isles in all wards.
“Concerns about biodiversity and greenery are not the ones to be raised during occasions such as environment day alone. LDF, in its manifesto, had provided a clear perspective on how to maintain environment and ecology,” chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in his environment day message.
“Our manifesto envisages creating wetland-based projects to protect soil, water and ecology with local participation. There will be equal thrust for protecting and nurturing forests,” he said.
Vijayan said even while planning for Nava Keralam, after the 2018 floods, the focus of the government was on sustainable development without damaging environment. The new scheme of the government ‘Subhiksha Keralam’ – to promote agriculture so that Kerala can be self-reliant in terms of food – will contribute significantly towards protecting the environment, he added. The government has set apart Rs 3,680 cr for Subhiksha Keralam project.
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