One Sapling At A Time, How Environmentalists Are Reclaiming Greenery Of Mumbai's Aarey Forest
The fight to save the Aarey Forest in Mumbai was one of the most high-profile one-of-its-kind battles India has seen in recent years.
The Aarey forest in the middle of Mumbai was to be cleared to make way for a car shed for the metro project.
However concerned citizens and activists fought tooth and nail up to the Supreme Court of India to save Mumbai's green lungs.
Their efforts paid off in October 2020, in a major victory for the campaigners,?around 800 acres of land in Aarey was declared a reserve forest, by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray who also said that the construction of the controversial car shed for a Metrorail project in the area would be shifted to Kanjurmag.
Replanting Aarey
With the metro project moved out, environmentalists have been working towards restoring Aarey's greenery with replantation drives.
"We have been doing this since November last year. In the first phase, we planted around 450 saplings. Our focus is on planting the right plant and giving the right care to it," Sushant Bali, an activist who has been a part of the Save Aarey campaign told Indiatimes.
According to him, they are only planting a limited number of saplings that they will be able to take care of in the long term and ensure that they grow into trees.
"In our group, there are a few people who are experienced in plantation, including me. I have studied Miyawaki and has worked on similar projects in the past too. There are others with us who have experience in working with farmers and Adivasis, which also is importnt," he said.
Prefer local species
After identifying the location for the replantation drive, the activists spent the next two weeks studying the plants and trees in the area to identify the trees there.
"We researched the regional trees that were specific to Aarey with the help of Adivasis and some botany students who identified the plants. Based on what we learned we listed the local plant species and collected the sapling which is specific to the area so that the biodiversity won't be affected by the introduction of a foreign species," Bali explained.
Community involvement
Other than restoring the greenery, the activists are also making sure that the locals especially the Adivasis who live in Aarey benefit from the initiative.
"Since last year we have been working with the Adivasis there. We started with two families, who we collected the seeds and distributed. After they germinated into saplings we bought them back and used them for the plantation drive. In addition to this, we are engaging the Adivasis and some youths from the nearby slums in the irrigation of the saplings and making sure that they grow into trees," he said.
