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Satpuda Foundation Appeals to Save Tendu tree to fight
the Climate Change on World Forest Day
Press Release: 20th
March 2010
 One hectare of Tendu forest sequester 1-3
metric tones of carbon helps in fighting climate change.Tendu fruits are delicious and can help
tribal kids to fight malnourishment. Cigarettes prepared
from "Tendu leave and tobacco" are bad for human health
and can lead to cancer. Tendu patta (leaves) business
provoking tribals to cut the tree tops and causing
threat to survival of this tree. The leave collection
business also causing forest fires, emitting more carbon
in the atmosphere. Affecting the watertable and water
conservation.
STOP THIS TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT AND
THE TREES.
The forests in Central India specially
the Vidarbha have been like the God's precious Gift. It
has a unique composition of indigenous trees. There are
many important trees like Tendu, Behada, Hirda, Awala,
Jamun, Tiwas, Anjan. But British only gave importance to
the species like Teak and the remaining tree species
always have been received the step mother treatment.
However in the modern days, on the
context of Climate Change, people have been preferring
to live eco-friendly way and consuming less trees for
furniture etc. These indigenous local trees have been
found equally important as they sequester more carbon.
The 1 hector dense forest having this composition of
abovementioned species sequester nearly 3 metric tonne
of carbon in a year.
However there are some department and
practices which have been still following the business
oriented policies and environment damaging practices.
Satpuda Foundation has highlighted one such tree specie
which is facing the severe threat and have been rejected
the “right to grow” in past 60 years.
The beautiful Tendu tree (Diospyros
tomentosa) is a pride of central Indian forest. The full
grown tendu tree grows up to 20 feet and sequesters 1-2
metric tonne of carbon per hectare every year. More
important thing for local tribals and their children is
tendu fruit. The tree gives fruits in the month of
April-May and it taste like the Sapodilla fruit (Chikoo)
and help tribal kids in fighting malnourishment.
The tendu leaves have been plucked up
for bidi (local cigarette) making on a large scale
(tobacco wrapped in tendu leaves). This has restrained
the trees from growing to fullest height and
contributing in fighting the climate change by
sequestering carbon. Villagers go and cut the tree tops
of young trees so that it should not grow beyond the
human being height and provide more leaves at lower
height. In turn the trees have not been attaining the
height or producing flowers and fruits. So it has
affected its natural regeneration around the villages in
Central India. The full grown trees have been only
confined to sanctuaries and national Parks like tigers.
The most dangerous thing is that the
leaves “collection, trade and business” has provoked
people to set the fire in the dry deciduous forests of
central India emitting more carbon in the atmosphere as
contractors believe that it gives them more yield. The
massive forest fires take place during the summer due to
this business which is actually a big issue in the
“climate change” context and it also affects water
conservation capacity of the soil. contractors believe
that due to fires, leaves sprouts fast and they get more
yield within a short period)
Presently even the school going Kids have
been deployed by Tendu contractors on the job of cutting
the tree tops. The tribal kids (child labours) going to
the forest with axes on the shoulder to work on cutting
the Tendu tree tops (actually shrubs) in the entire
Vidarbha, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.
Contractors believe that by doing so,
they would get more sprouting/ branching horizontally
and thereby the more yield at the human chest level. As
the labour is costly due to NREGA and increased minimum
wages, contractors have deployed child labours (cheap)
for cutting the tree (shrub) tops at 20Rs.a day (4hours
in the morning and 3 hours in the evening). (these are
the exam days of kids)
Though this is a very serious issue for
our developing, poor country, this is not new to central
India as it has been continued since last 60 years after
independence when tribals have been given this kind of
“anti-social-development” employment. The rural poor
Indians were fond of bidi smoking and hence the trade
flourished in central India, specially in Maharashtra,
Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh state.
Satpuda Foundation has decided to launch
a campaign, requesting Government, locals, politicians,
media to save the Tendu trees, stop the tree top cutting
practice, taking strict action against contractors who
are provoking villagers to set fires and emit more
carbon in the atmosphere through forest fires.
1)State Governments should rethink on the
Tendu business which gives an employment (of cancer)
to thousands of “poor tribal people” and revenue to the
state Governments.
2)The centre and state should implement
the Reduction in emission by arresting degradation and
deforestation (REDD) mechanism to resolve this issue.
(As per “Copenhagen accord”)
3)Solving this grass root level serious
issue will help in poverty alleviation and sustainable
development of developing countries like India.?
Satpuda Foundation has made a appeal on
the eve of World Forest Day to allow tendu trees to give
fruits rather than cutting their tops for producing more
leaves for cigars and also act upon above three
solutions.
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