This is an interesting story…a story of an Indian man known as Jadav Payeng who started planting trees at the same place since 1979 to recover what looked like a lost island.

By ‘lost’ we are talking about an island whose natural beauty had been destroyed through human activities like farming.

However, one man was determined to beat the odds and reverse all these by restoring the ecosystem and the beauty of the island. The man was with the ‘crazy idea’ was Payeng and nothing could stop him from this daunting mission.

Since 1979, Payeng has been planting trees every day on the island of Majuli and Jorhat.

Yes, that’s right! He planted trees every day! What’s even amazing is that he has even managed to establish a forest bigger than the size of Central Park in New York. As a matter of fact, the manmade forest is 550 hectares, compared to the size of Central Park NYC which is estimated to be 341 hectares.

It has been a long journey spanning 37 years, but the result is a beautiful forest which is playing host to some wild animals. This helped by the fact that the forest is quite dense with different types of grass coupled with different species of both long and short trees that make a good habitat for the wild animals.

For instance, about 115 elephants live in this forest for three months every year before migrating to other areas. The forest is also home to some other fascinating animals such as deer, rhinos, and tigers.

Payeng confesses that once he started planting trees in 1979, it proved an uphill task because he had to look for seeds or seedlings to plant and they were not easy to find.

However, with time, the task grew ‘easier’ because he could get seeds from the trees. That sounds easier on paper, right? Surely, it is not.

Payeng is a man of great dreams and one of his dreams is to fill the Majuli Island and Jorhat with trees.

He has even declared that he is going to plant the trees till death do him and nature apart. He is not discouraged by people who are continuously cutting down the trees, as he is still determined to plant more.

Jadav Payeng even has a message for them. “Cutting down my trees will do nothing! Cut me before you cut my trees”. According to him, for as long as he is alive, he will still plant more and more!

https://www.facebook.com/natgeo/videos/10153621205673951/

Jadav Payeng is a man on a mission, and he has proven that small deeds every day can literally change the world!



References:

Image Credits:Jadav Payeng, surnommé “Forest Man”.

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This Post Has One Comment

  1. Okechukwu Ekemezie

    Wowww, this is absolutely incredible. This man deserves a Nobel Prize for peace.
    A challenge and inspiration fir many.

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