Part of Group’s ‘Mahindra Hariyali’ initiative which aims to plant One Million trees each year
INDIACSR News Network
MUMBAI: The USD 15.9 billion Mahindra Group, one of India’s leading business houses, has announced that it planted 17,46,418 trees during F-2013 adding significantly to India’s green cover, while surpassing its target of one million trees. Various sectors and businesses from across the Group undertook sapling plantation drives under the Mahindra Hariyali initiative which aims to plant a million trees every year across the country.
“Mahindra Hariyali is the Mahindra Group’s endeavour to tackle the twin evils of climate change and sustainability. This project was launched in 2007. The passion and enthusiasm of our employees, working in tandem with business partners, NGOs and Government agencies across the country, has ensured that we surpassed our target of adding one million trees every year to India‘s green cover, including the last financial year.
Mahindra Hariyali is a testament to the spirit of our commitment to the triple bottom line, which is an integral part of the culture at Mahindra” said Rajeev Dubey, Chairman – CSR Council and President (Group HR, After-Market and Corporate Services) & Member of the Group Executive Board, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
Project Mahindra Hariyali: On October 2, 2007, its 62nd Founders’ day, the Mahindra Group made a commitment to sustainable growth with the launch of Mahindra Hariyali, a project which drew enthusiastic participation from Mahindra employees and supply chain partners across India.
In order to address the problem of limited space to plant saplings, plantation drives also took place in schools, colleges and other community venues apart from wastelands. Mahindra’s commitment to ‘Green India’ goes beyond just planting saplings. The company also monitors survival rates and undertakes replacement of saplings as and when required.
In the latter phase of the project, Mahindra partnered with the Naandi Foundation and Danone to plant 6 million trees in the Araku region of Andhra Pradesh. In partnership with the Adivasi community, the project helps them create their own fruit and forest trees that will sustain a healthy carbon rich ecosystem. This horticulture project will affect the lives of over 60,000 people in 300 villages. Six million trees (three million fruit and spice trees and three million coffee saplings) will be planted across a terrain of 6,000 hectares by 2015.
This extra green cover, in addition to providing livelihood and nutritional security, will also enhance the wildlife habitat value and biodiversity of the region. The Araku project not only aims to provide sustainable growth, but is also a way of addressing health and nutrition related issues, as the villagers did not have access to their traditional forests.
Through this initiative, team members and volunteers have got an opportunity to make a huge impact on the environment, as well as society.
