On July 4th 2021, in an effort to combat climate change, the state of Uttar Pradesh in India took part in an annual tree planting drive and planed 250 million saplings in a single day. Their aim is to have a third of its total land area under forest cover by 2030.
The saplings were planted in farms, forests, schools and alongside highways and riverbanks all over the state of Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most-populous state. The forest cover of the state has increased over the last few years, due to what has now become a yearly tradition. There is hope that this mass-plantation can help to create better air quality for residents, reduce carbon emissions and stabilize the climate.
“We are committed to increasing the forest cover of Uttar Pradesh state to over 15% of the total land area in the next five years. In today’s campaign, over 100 million trees will be planted,” stated Manoj Singh, a state forest official.
All the trees have been geo-tagged with QR codes to ensure that forest officials can monitor their survival rates, allowing them to report on the success or failure of saplings on particular sites. According to the State Forest Minister, the survival rate of saplings has increased to around 80% thanks to this practice.