Our Work In India Population Overview While almost one million acres of land in Assam, West Bengal, and other regions in Northwest India and Bangladesh get flooded regularly, the people of Tamil Nadu in southeastern India, 1000 miles away from the flood zones, are struggling with drought and a lack of fresh water. Read more . . . Our Response Trees for the Future is working with farming communities, schools, and women’s groups through a network of local organizations to address the water crisis that is punishing the region’s agricultural production and the health of the people. Read more . . . Program Update Although this years poor monsoon delayed our tree planting work, eventually the rains came and the saplings were able to be distributed and planted. Our work in the North, in partnership with RACHNA, has distributed over 6,000 seedlings in 6 communities in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand. Read more . . .     Click here to view an interactive map     Overview of Social and Environmental Issues  While almost one million acres of land in Assam, West Bengal, and other regions in Northwest India and Bangladesh get flooded regularly, the people of Tamil Nadu in southeastern India, 1000 miles away from the flood zones, are struggling with drought and a lack of fresh water. Trees have been cleared, erosion is stripping topsoil from farmlands, and little rainwater is channeled back into aquifers. In the end of 2004, the great tsunami hit Tamil Nadu causing further destruction to an already struggling region. While some sectors of Indian society have greatly improved their standards of living, life for the average farmer continues to be a struggle for survival. Thanks to the vagaries of commodity prices and the weather, the high costs of pesticides and fertilizers, and declining yields, India has experienced a horrifying number of farmer suicides. At the same time, common lands continue to be degraded, as overgrazing and fuelwood harvesting destroy the remaining fertility.   Agroforestry Training in Tiruvannamalai Training in sustainable agriculture A windbreak planted by Grace Trust Our ResponseTrees for the Future is working with farming communities, schools, and women’s groups through a network of local organizations to address the water crisis that is punishing the region’s agricultural production and the health of the people. There is interest in planting a variety of fruit trees, timber and non-timber species suitable for the degraded red soil - with the emphasis being placed on planting fast-growing, multipurpose species that are supplying a wide array of products while serving as barriers to minimize further erosion. The majority of all our work over the last two years has been in the region of Tamil Nadu, the southeastern region hit hardest by the devastating 2004 tsunami. We have recently expanded to Andhra Pradesh, a region that is suffering from prolonged droughts, and in 2009 we are starting a new program in the northern state of Uttarakhand, which will be working with villages and local governments to enhance the productivity of common lands.   Program Update November 2009 Although this years poor monsoon delayed our tree planting work, eventually the rains came and the saplings were able to be distributed and planted. Our work in the North, in partnership with RACHNA, has distributed over 6,000 seedlings in 6 communities in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand. In Andhra Pradesh, Gangisetty has distributed nearly 100,000 seedlings as well as nearly 200,000 seeds. In Tamil Nadu, Subramanian and his local partners have distributed nearly 100,000 seedlings along with over 75,000 seeds. January 2009We have translated our Agroforestry training program into Telugu, and will soon complete the translation into Tamil. In-country seed distribution is underway, and we hope to distribute over 2 million seeds as part of our programs in 2009. Our partners continue to find new and innovative ways to plant trees, in a region that has extremely high population density. The India program continunes to grow, and we have contacts throughout the country that are ready to start planting trees in the coming year.