Nov 2019

Page 4 VOLUME 116 | ISSUE 122 | NOVEMBER 2019 Jadav Payeng, known as the Forest Man of Established by H.H. Dr. Syedna Environment Wellness & Lifestyle Monthly Newsletter India spent 30 years of his life planting trees to Mohammed Burhanuddin (RA) save his island, creating a man-made forest of in 1992 550 hectares. Thanks to this reforestation, wildlife has returned to the area. Jadav Payeng is a humble farmer from a marginalized tribal community in Assam. The When it comes to global health, the world has made son of a poor buffalo trader, now an inspirational environmental activist, he upgraded remarkable strides over the past two decades. There has an area near the river Brahmaputra into a reserve forest all by himself. His incredible been unprecedented progress vaccinating kids, treating journey began in 1979 when he was just 16 years old. diseases and lifting millions out of poverty. The childhood death rate has been slashed in half since 2000. Adults are The Mulai Reserve is a forest on the Majuli Island in Assam. It has a total area of 1000 living an average 5 1/2 years longer. hectares and is under continuous threat due to the extensive soil erosion on its banks. Majuli has shrunk over the past 70 years by more than half. After failed attempts by the Assam Forestry Division, the forest was single-handedly attended by Jadav Payeng during the course of over 30 years. He began planting bamboo and then continued planting other species. Now scientists say these successes are under serious threat from climate change. The warning comes in a sweeping new study in the journal The Lancet. It is the latest in the The Molai forest thus created is larger than effort by researchers from more than a dozen universities as well as the WHO, to track the health impacts of climate change. They note that even as the world has been doing Central Park in New York City. Thanks to him, so much to improve health, climate change has also been underway, slowly pushing up the average temperatures around the planet by about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit the Molai forest now houses Bengal tigers, compared to preindustrial times, roughly around the mid-19th century. This increase in temperature has had a wide and complicated range of consequences for world health, rhinoceros, reptiles, over 100 deers, and rabbits says Dr. Nick Watts of University College London, who led the study. in addition to monkeys and several varieties of birds. The government only learned about Jadav's forest in 2008 when a herd of around 100 wild elephants strayed into it. Award-winning documentary films and educational books have been made, giving him For instance, it has meant that the conditions world wide recognition. It was recently announced on Jadav's Facebook page, where he promotes tree planting, that The Forest Man of India has made it to the textbooks for growing all sorts of crops around the world, of The Maharashtra School Board. have become less favorable. The research In his honor, the Molai forest was named Padma Shri Jadav \"Molai\" Payeng, the Indian team found that the yield potential for staple environmental activist and forestry worker who tries to save the island where he lives by planting one tree every day. crops like wheat, maize, rice and soybean is now down as much as 6%. With reduced crop yields, especially in poorer countries, the Recycled Paper Used They end up with health impacts that most vulnerable are children. Recycled Paper Used BURHANI FOUNDATION (INDIA) stick with them through the rest of When fewer crops are produced, prices go up, Amatullah Manzil, 65 Bazargate Street, Fort, Mumbai-1. their life: gastrointestinal disease, and people get less food. That leads to Phone: 22678480 / 22634326 Youtube: Burhani Foundation India Channel cardiovascular disease, cognitive malnutrition, which can be especially Website: burhanifoundationindia.org Facebook: Burhani-Foundation-India Email: [email protected] Twitter: BFI_environment defects etc. And that has a profound devastating for kids because their bodies are Instagram: burhani.foundation [email protected] lifelong impact that is irreversible. still growing.

Page 2 Page 3 People around the world produce tons of While the world is appreciating teenage environment activist Greta Thunberg's thought-provoking speech on rising emissions, few are waste each day. Most of this material ends aware that an 11-year-old Indian girl was among 16 child petitioners who filed a complaint to protest lack of government action on the up in dumps rather than in recycling climate crisis. The Haridwar native minces no words when she talks about the environment. Ridhima plants. A report from World Bank projects hit the headlines in 2017 when she filed a petition in the National Green Tribunal against the government for failing to take action on climate change, highlighting the global waste production to rise to 2.5 growing concern over pollution and environmental degradation in the country. billion tons per year by 2030. Landfills are She contended that India is one of the most vulnerable countries and was already experiencing adverse impacts of the source of many health hazards. As climate change. On the issue of Ganga cleaning, Ridhima claimed that not much progress is visible on the ground. A landfills run out of space, trash will end up vast amount of waste, including polythene bags, garbage and industrial effluent, goes into the river untreated and Recycling is more than sorting trash or in more drinking water sources. Citizens there is total apathy on the part of the authorities, she \"If we as consumers stop added. Calling for a total ban on plastic, the 11-year-old, throwing objects into a receptacle. It need to increase recycling to stop this, but using plastic, companies who is a class topper, said the prohibition should be will stop manufacturing it.\" strictly implemented. means efficiently removing and so do industrial giants. If more companies A study published in the journal PNAS details what the scientists say is the largest reusing harmful waste to improve reused their materials, they could greatly investigation of the association between green spaces and mental health. living conditions. Recycling:- reduce energy usage. Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark found that growing up near vegetation is associated with upto 55% lower risk of mental health disorders in adulthood. 1. Conserves natural resources Not everyone knows what objects they can Kristine Engemann, the biologist who led the study, combined decades of satellite 2. Protects ecosystems and wildlife and can’t put in the bin. Flexible plastics imagery with extensive health and demographic data of the Danish population to 3. Protects people like toothpaste tubes, utensils and straws investigate the mental health effects of growing up near greenery. shouldn’t undergo recycling because \"Green space seemed to have an association that was 4. Cuts carbon emissions they’re too fragile. Putting un-recyclable similar in strength to other known influences on mental health, like history of mental health disorders in the 5. Reduces landfill waste material in collection containers makes it family, or socioeconomic status.\" says Engemann. 6. Creates jobs harder for workers to sort through waste, What's more, the effect of green space was \"dosage leading to less effective sustainability. dependent\" — the more of one's childhood spent close to greenery, the lower the risk of mental health Did you know? problems in adulthood. ♦ Producing new aluminium from old cans and foil, uses 95% less energy than making it from scratch. For steel it is about a 70% energy saving. ♦ Making paper from pulped recycled paper uses 40% less energy than making it from new wood fibers. ♦ The amount of energy saved from recycling one glass bottle could power an old 100-watt light bulb for 4 hours – and a new low-energy LED equivalent for a lot longer. Recycled Paper Used Recycled Paper Used ♦ Recycling glass reduces the need to use new raw materials like sand – it sounds hard to believe, but supplies of some types of sand are low around the world. ♦ Recycling metals means there is less need for risky, expensive and damaging mining and extraction of new metal ores.