Uttar Pradesh government is preparing to roll out one of India’s largest afforestation campaigns, targeting the plantation of 35 crore trees during the monsoon season from July 1 to 7.
The initiative, directed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister forms a core pillar of the state’s long-term goal to increase green cover to 20 per cent by 2030. With an ambitious stockpile of 50 crore saplings already under preparation, the monsoon plantation push extends far beyond symbolic gestures. It reflects a systemic effort to institutionalise environmental restoration at the grassroots, integrating biodiversity registers, riverbank afforestation, and expressway greening into the planning framework. The campaign comes with strict directives: every village panchayat and urban body must now maintain a local biodiversity register, cataloguing native flora, heritage trees, and threatened species.
Critical to this green agenda is the River Rejuvenation Campaign, which targets major rivers such as the Ganga, Yamuna, and Ghaghara for tree planting along both banks. In a region vulnerable to human-wildlife conflict, particularly in forest-fringe districts like Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, and Bahraich, the government plans to deploy solar fencing alongside intensified forest patrolling—an environmental-security strategy rarely seen at this scale.
To ensure these initiatives are deeply rooted in the local fabric, the plan mandates each village to create a “Gram Van” or village forest. Complementing this are regular “Green Chaupals,” where communities engage in dialogues promoting sustainable practices. Notably, over 25 lakh rural housing beneficiaries will receive drumstick (moringa) saplings to boost both nutrition and home-based greening efforts, linking ecological restoration with household health outcomes.
The state is also sharpening its administrative readiness. All forest department vacancies are to be filled immediately, with policy-level bottlenecks reported directly to the Chief Minister’s Office. Infrastructure developments will follow in parallel, including the fast-tracking of the Kukrail Night Safari and the establishment of a Forestry University, envisaged as a research and innovation centre for ecological studies.
Highlighting its biodiversity legacy, Uttar Pradesh is home to nearly 2,400 of India’s 6,327 Gangetic dolphins. Conservation measures will be scaled up accordingly, especially in dolphin habitats, strengthening the state’s role in aquatic species preservation. Further, the CM underlined that success must be measured not in plantation figures alone, but in tangible ecological improvements visible on the ground.
The plan also includes institutional backing. Environmental training institutes across six cities will be modernised to align with the campaign’s technical demands. Simultaneously, the Pollution Control Board will initiate green finance tools to incentivise eco-innovation and sustainable entrepreneurship.
By marrying infrastructure, biodiversity, community engagement, and policy precision, Uttar Pradesh’s monsoon plantation strategy signals a deeper shift—from reactive afforestation to anticipatory ecological governance. If executed with the rigour envisioned, the state could emerge as a national model in landscape-level restoration and environmental stewardship.
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