As the effects of climate change continue to influence and alter the environment around us, those living in poverty are most vulnerable. 84% of the population we work with rely on subsistence agriculture to survive and need common lands to ensure they can provide for their families and communities.

Unfortunately, a lot of these lands have been mismanaged and not maintained properly, leading to a loss in biodiversity and vegetative cover that not only provides vital produce for families to consume and sell, but is also essential in capturing and retaining rainwater in the soil.

In response, Seva Mandir, with the support of corporate partners, undertakes extensive work on these common lands with local communities to regenerate the ecology through tree plantation, soil and water conservation activities, and, importantly, providing capacity building and training events.

Not only do the regenerated common lands support communities, they also directly combat climate change through sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said that ‘planting trees is one of the most important things we can do to contribute to the health of the planet. Forests are the lungs of our planet, drawing in carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen. And trees improve our lives both on a grand scale and at the local level.'

All members of the communities we work with have come together to undertake this huge activity, and collectively, we have planted more than 120 million trees that are sequestering 300,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.