Successfully complete Phase 1 and 2 of tree plantation to develop India’s first PPP Wildlife Corridor between Kanha and Pench

In each phase, 100,000 trees were planted over 100 hectares of land
Project to enhance forest cover across 300 hectares over 3 years, linking Kanha and Pench
Creates over 25,000 work days of employment for women and local tribal communities
Helps Vodafone India to offset the carbon footprint generated by its offices across the country

Jabalpur, 5 November, 2015: Vodafone India, one of India’s leading telecom service providers and Grow-Trees.com, the exclusive Indian Planting Partner for United Nation’s Environment Program’s Billion Tree Campaign, today announced the successful completion of Phase 1 and 2 of their joint project to improve the wildlife corridor between Kanha - Pench wildlife reserves by planting 200,000 trees on 200 hectares of forest land. Launched in August 2014, this project will by next year have a total of 300,000 trees planted over 300 hectares of forest land between Kanha Tiger Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh and Pench in Maharashtra. In phase 1, 100,000 saplings were planted near Rata village last year and in phase 2, another 100,000 saplings were planted near Devdara village earlier this year. Both the villages are located in Mandla district.

The successful completion of Phase 1 and 2 was formally announced by Manish Kumar, Business Head – Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Vodafone India and Mr. Bikrant Tiwary, CEO, Grow-Trees.com, at a special press meet organised in Jabalpur today. 

Sharing details about Vodafone’s support to the project, Manish Kumar – Business Head, MPCG, Vodafone India, said, “Vodafone India is committed to supporting sustainable initiatives that benefit all – the organisation, the community and the environment. Madhya Pradesh is endowed with rich and diverse forest resources. With 9 national parks and 25 wildlife sanctuaries, almost 25% of the state is covered with forests. With this initiative, we are able to add to its green cover, support the conservation of its flora and fauna and facilitate habitat connectivity in tiger breeding areas. In addition, we will also create livelihood opportunities for local communities, enable reforestation and offset carbon footprint generated by our offices every year for 3-years.”

This project will create about 25,000 workdays of direct jobs mainly for women and tribals inhabiting the area in addition to supporting several allied livelihood generating activities such as farming, fruit and honey gathering etc. on a sustained basis. The site is in Sijhora Range and would be jointly protected by three villages- Majhipur, Jogisoda and Chandiya. A variety of trees, including Karani, Harra, Baheda, Bamboo, Khamer, Ladiya, Mango and Amla, that are local to the region will be planted. Saplings of these were grown in the special nurseries funded by Grow-Trees.com.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Bikrant Tiwary, CEO, Grow-Trees.com, said, “Approximately 45% of India's land is degraded primarily due to deforestation, unsustainable agricultural practices, mining and excessive groundwater extraction. More than two thirds of this can be regenerated and our endeavour is to facilitate this by providing planting opportunities to individual and corporate customers. We are delighted to have Vodafone India as our corporate partner to support this novel project of wildlife corridors for enlarging wildlife habitats. The size and scale of this private corridor reforestation initiative is the biggest till date in the country. The planting process on site will be led by our on ground partner FES.”