Giant Trees for Climate Change Mitigation in India

Dear Supporter,

In the last quarter, our team did something that we never thought would create a huge opportunity to connect people across the globe to giant tree conservation. They developed a superfood- jackfruit seed powder. It is an exceptionally versatile product that could be used to make smoothies, pancakes, custard and delicious brownie without choclate ( as you don't need one). The purpose- to build skills of local communities in making products from fruits, nuts of giant trees that are environment friendly as well as healthy. In turn this generates sustainable income generation opportunities for the local communities and broadens the constituency of giant conservation stewards. . 

In order to asess whether we have sufficient supply for value chain- jackfruit seed powder- development, our field team mapped 629 large trees of Jackfruits owned by 170 families in 12 villages from Sangameshwar block. The survey results indicated that these old trees were phenomenal in production of jackfruits. The estimated number of fruits we could collect and process from these trees was 15725. From these number of fruits, it was further estimated that we could make 3800 Kg of jackfruit seed powder. Looking at the growing interest in and demand for plant based glutane free food products in the US and other developed economies of the world, one can easily assume a price of USD 20/ Kg for a ethically sourced and fair certified powder. This could translate into a revenue of USD 76000.

Even if we leave 30% fruits for wild animals as recommended by FAIRWILD certification protocol, the revenue/ profit would be still sufficient to pay for the conservation of these trees and also cover the yearly compensation of field team of 5 that would be fully engaged in this enterprise. So much for the economics of value chain and rural employment.

These trees provide habitat for many threatened birds such as hornbills and canopy dependent mamals such as civets, giant squirrels, bonnet macques.This is increasingly important as the community forests don't have giant trees in these numbers any more. They have long sold it for making quick money.

From climate perspective, these trees store significant amount of carbon. The data revealed that these 629 trees store 223 tons of carbon OR that they have sequestered 819 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. 

I think there is huge opportunity here to make conservation a commercial success. Your support and guidance in promoting Jackfruit seed powder as superfood would go long way in building a green economic model that will generate long term ecological benefits for the critical ecosystem and economic benefits for local communities. 

Thanks for your continued interest in and support to this important cause.

Best 

• Linking conservation and superfood value chain (PDF)
  

Dear Supporter,

I have been always amazed and fascinated by ancient Banyan trees whenever I see them. In India, we are fortunate to some extent that the Banyan tree is worshipped and considered sacred. For this one reason, thousands of Banyan trees are surviving in very challenging situations- facing the constant threat of felling due to massive growth in urban areas and plastic pollution in India. 

What has been most intriguing part of this journey to me is the presence of the Banyan trees in large numbers in coastal areas. It struck me very clearly when I saw hundreds of Banyan trees in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2016. Since then I was thinking there must be some reason for their distribution and higher density in coastal regions. During our work on mangrove conservation on west coast of Maharashtra, I traveled to many coastal villages specially in Raigad district and found out that there is indeed a similarilty between what I saw in Honolulu and what I experienced in Alibaug, Shriwardhan and Harihareshwar on west coast of Maharashtra- presence of large number of healthy Banyan trees.. 

Our field team started tagging these trees first in Alibaug which is a major tourist destination only to find utter neglect of local communities and tourists. As a result, we found that the root structure of Banyan trees is often burnt and this is due to the fact that tourists did not care where to throw the plastic waste. Banyan trees with large canopies became ideal spot to eat and drink and throw the garbage once done. Local people on the other hand wanted to get rid of this waste and just burnt plastic. It resulted in burning of the root structure and very unhealthy status. The tree is very clever in that it has hundreds of roots spread over large area and it can survive these threats. The point is how insensitive we as humans have become. 

In stead of working on waste management strategies which will take more time and money with no guarantee of positive impact, we focused on mapping trees on coast of Shriwardhan. Our team found some amazing specimens and this area is fortunately still quite serene. Our team mapped around 30 trees in the last quarter and we will now start engaging with local communities for saving these heritage trees from the threats of urban development.. 

The ecological role of Banyan trees very well known. They supply fruits to hundreds of bird species for most of the period in the year. The frugivorous birds such as hornbills and barbets survive because of these trees produce fruits in millions. Birds are major dispersers of many rare trees however they need energy to fly and do their job. The Banyan tree is food bank for all such birds. 

Thanks for continued support to this important initiative.

Best