According to the most recent population estimates, there are about 1.35 billion people living in India, roughly four times the size of the population of the US. As India’s population grows, more land is needed for agriculture, industry and housing. This has resulted in widespread deforestation as well as India becoming the world’s third largest producer of carbon dioxide emissions. Fortunately, India has pledged $6 billion to increase its forest cover by 12% by 2030 as part of the Paris Climate Agreement. This equates to about 5 million hectares of forest cover (over 12 million acres) that will help absorb excess carbon dioxide. In recent years, millions of volunteers have been involved in massive tree-planting efforts across the country. In just 12 hours on July 2, 2017, over 1.Guinness World Records.
Indian Environmental Army:
The volunteer army, which included children and the elderly, planted from 7 am to 7 pm along the Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh. In total, 66.3 million seedlings from 20 different tree species found new life.
The previous tree planting record was also set in India. Volunteers in Uttar Pradesh planted around 50 million trees in a single day in July 2016.
“The world talks about global warming and climate change,” said Minister of State Shirvraj Singh Chouhan, “but Madhya Pradesh has taken a concrete step to address it.”