Bengaluru, June 5 (IANS) Envisioned by Sadhguru, the Cauvery Calling movement enabled the plantation of 1.36 crore saplings across 34,000 acres in the Cauvery basin during 2024–25. To date, a total of 12.2 crore saplings have been planted, supporting 2.38 lakh farmers in adopting tree-based agriculture, the Isha Foundation said in a statement on Thursday.

Remarkably, in the last year alone, 50,931 farmers and citizens actively participated in this large-scale ecological effort, stated Isha Foundation in the statement.

Anand Ethirajalu, Project Director of Cauvery Calling and representative of the Save Soil movement, emphasised the urgency of soil regeneration – one of the key objectives of the movement.

He said, “One of the key topics that we were campaigning during this Climate Change Conference, ‘COP29 summit’ of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and COP16 of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is that less than 4 per cent of the global climate finance is actually reaching agriculture and food systems.”

“We highlighted this because climate change cannot be fixed in the atmosphere. It can be fixed only in the soil. Putting more focus and investment in soil regeneration through tree-based agriculture is the need of the hour, and that’s what we’ve been doing,” Anand Ethirajalu stated.

Cauvery Calling is the world’s largest farmer-driven ecological initiative and a groundbreaking eco-restoration effort with the potential to transform tropical regions. Named Top Innovator by the Trillion Trees: India Challenge, the movement aims to rejuvenate the Cauvery River—lifeline to 8.4 crore people—while enhancing farmers’ incomes by enabling the plantation of 242 crore trees on private farmland, states the statement.

Sadhguru had earlier shared, “Cauvery Calling will demonstrate to the world that it is possible to change the terrain of degraded Land by taking planned and strategised Action. Everyone who is nourished by Soil and Water must be a part of this Movement. Let Us Make It Happen.”

In 2024, on landmark days such as World Environment Day (June 5), Van Mahotsav Week (July 1–7), Gandhi Jayanti (October 2), and World Soil Day (December 5) etc, 506 plantation events were conducted, resulting in the planting of 10 lakh saplings.

–IANS

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