Jadav Payeng’s story resembles an ecological tale. To save the land where he was born, he created a forest with his own hands. In Assam, in northeast India, the island of Majuli is threatened by rising sea levels and global warming. The Molai forest, with its bamboo with dense roots that hold the earth, slowing erosion, is today the jewel of the island, and the work of a lifetime.
When he was a teenager forty years ago, it was a massive flood that prompted Jadav Payeng to act: “A huge flood, which started in China, and which passed through the region of Arunachal Pradesh”. The waves drained tons of debris, and also different kinds of snakes, he says. “Overwhelmed by immense sadness” discovering all these dead snakes, he went to seek advice from the elders of his tribe. They told him to plant bamboo – which he did. Thirty years later, a forest covers 550 hectares. It has become a refuge for wild animals, such as elephants and rhinos.
“All the damage that has been done to nature is the result of our irresponsible actions. We cannot go back, but we must stop deforestation immediately, and replant trees everywhere.”
Jadav payengin “Special Envoy”
We must now continue this fight on a much larger scale. Aware that “global warming will have a disastrous impact on the planet“, Jadav Payeng”hope we can survive by protecting the forests, because without them it will be impossibleHis action for the preservation of nature is famous in the region: people everywhere flock to meet the “Forest Man” of India. In 2015, the government awarded him a Padma Shri, a civilian decoration among the most important.
Extract from “Forest Man”, a report to see in “Special Envoy” on January 6, 2022.
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