THE TREE MAN
Sundays are special for Sameer Majli. When the educationist and career guidance counselor started Green Saviours 108 Sundays ago, he never imagined the bliss he would experience when little kids recognise him as the ‘ Tree Man’. What better name for a person who has been engaged in creating forests in and around Belgaum in Karnataka.
With much pride in his voice, Sameer says, “Since April 10, 2016, we have planted more than 10,000 trees, 75 per cent of which have survived. We have taken the tree plantation drive to nearly 35 sites and created six mini forests. Our focus, unlike others, is on maintenance of trees; we ensure that we replant a sapling for every lost one.”
He prefers the word ‘ we’ to ‘ I’ because he believes it’s teamwork and it wouldn’t be fair to take the whole credit. “We are a team of 4060 persons who engage in afforestation drives and work every Sunday without fail. There are 300 to 400 volunteers too. It’s an association devoid of designations or donations, and runs on public participation, commitment and social responsibility,” says Sameer.
The team follows an Indianised version of the Japanese Miyawaki technique of dense forest- making, where 300 trees can be planted on 10,000 sq ft of land. Each sapling is placed at a distance of eight to 18 feet from another depending on the rate of growth of the trees.
Sameer recalls, “In 2015, the rains failed and the next year, Belgaum witnessed severe drought. When scarcity hits, conservation is secondary. What came first is the thought ‘ what if it doesn’t rain anymore’. Every child has learnt in school that trees bring rain; we soon put up a message on social media and a lot of people turned up.”
Since then, they have been conquering the wilderness and spreading hope. Together, Sameer and his team have built forests in industrial compounds, schools and farmlands in villages where their initiative served as a livelihood for poor farmers.
“Apart from plantation drives, we make our own saplings by harvesting the roadside ones taken out in the name of beautification. Those are transplanted to better spots and the survival rate is about 40 to 50 per cent,” he says, adding that they plant species indigenous to the Western Ghats — from local fruits like jackfruit and mango to
neem, amla, tamarind, gulmohar, etc.
Apart from plantation drives, we make our own saplings by harvesting the roadside ones taken out in the name of beautification — SAMEER MAJLI