Children Lead Forest Regeneration Efforts in Ganj Basoda

In Madhya Pradesh's Ganj Basoda, the local forests have been severely degraded by irresponsible mining over the past decades, depleting the ground water and leaving little greenery near the villages inhabited by the Sahariyas, a vulnerable tribe. Our youth educators and children from the Bal Angans have initiated a small grassroots effort to restore this lost forest cover.

With limited space for traditional nurseries, children are picking up seeds strewn around in their villages, and young saplings of native species such as Moringa, Neem, Jamun, Bael, Tamarind and Sitaphal.

Children making the seed balls

They're planting some in and around their homesteads and encasing others in clay seed balls until they can be sprinkled around in the near barren forests around their villages. The children plan to keep a close vigil until the seeds germinate and saplings grow, as they could be eaten up by cattle or trampled around by people.

Through this effort, these young forest stewards hope to kickstart natural regeneration — a small but vital step toward repairing the landscape ravaged by mining, and reviving their local ecosystem.