January - June 2021

We kickstarted our very first Plantation Drive at Taloja Hill Watershed, Kharghar with our Project Partner iNaturewatch Foundation. Volunteers flock to the Taloja Hills for Afforestation. Marching uphill along with the coconut shell-line paths, volunteers planted the saplings of Asan, Babool, and Jamun into the pre-dug pits and trenches with the help of gardening tools provided to them priorly.

As a knowledge for the project "Development of Ambivli Biodiversity Park", we with our Project Partner iNaturewatch Foundation, kickstarted our Plantation Drive at Ambivli, KDMC, Thane with the help of KDMC Commissioner Dr Vijay Suryavanshi.

Clean-up Drive Event   

With our Project Partner iNaturewatch Foundation,  we organised a Clean-up Drive Event at Achari Kunta Lake, Hyderabad on the occasion of World Environment Day with the help of the Prahari Trust. Volunteers did an excellent job by cleaning up the surroundings of the lake that was polluted with plastic and other solid waste. Waste collected from the lake was nearly 12 bags of large trash-collecting bags with each bag carrying nearly 15 kgs of solid and plastic waste.  

  Seed Dibbling Event 

With our Project Partner iNaturewatch Foundation, we organised a Seed Dibbling Event at Taloja Hill, Kharghar on the occasion of World Environment Day with the help of the Panvel Forest Department. Volunteers enthusiastically planted seeds of the Karanj / Pongam tree along the stream that flows down the hill. 

Tree Tagging and Counting Event 

 With our Project Partner iNaturewatch Foundation, we organised a Tree Tagging and Counting event at SGNP, Mulund Range on the occasion of World Environment Day with the help of the Borivli Forest Department. Volunteers did an amazing job by counting the number of trees present in each plot and tagging them accordingly. 

 We organised a delayed celebration of World Forestry Day which falls on 21 March. We planned a nature action programme at our project site in Taloja. Volunteers actively participated in this event and pledge their support for nature conservation.

The following activities that were conducted are as follows:

1. Seed collection drive for forest nursery

2. Summer Bird Census

3. Nature Trail Development

4. Nature Trail Mapping

5. Preparing Sapling Bags

6. Summer Insect census

 We conducted a virtual Masterclass on Making Bird Feeders- Helping City Birds, for the employees of TATA-AIG on 17 March 2021. During the session participants learned about the common garden birds which are observed in the city, how to observe them, what they eat, etc. The presentation was followed by a demonstration on making a bird feeder by recycling a pet bottle. Participants made their own bird feeder during the demonstration session. The programme was concluded with a question answer round and discusion about the World Sparrow Day. 

We conducted a virtual workshop on Green Lifestyles for over 100 employees of TCL Communication in collaboration with Goodera . We shared tips on saving natural resources for betterment of people & planet. We believe when it comes to natural resources our lifestyle & status doesn’t matter what matters whether Mother Earth can afford our lifestyle and what is her status. The participants calculate their individual carbon foot print as well handprint to understand how much they are taking from nature and how little they are returning it back. As a handson activity, we demonstrated making of a cloth bag out of old clothes without sewing. Participants responded by saying that it was a memory lane walk as most us remember reusing, recycling items during their childhood, the focus was lost as we became prolific consumer.  

Over 80 employees of Tata Communications through their digital academy helped in developing powerpoint lesson plans for teachers. These lesson plans were related to environmental topics. The PPTs are available online for free download.

 During our periodic survey  we sighted Spiny Frog Shell which was first time recorded at our project site. Frog shells are distinguished from others in having a tube like cut at the opening.They assume many shapes and coarsely ornamented with thick ribs, knobs and warty lumps; which gives them the name frog shells. We found a hermit crab using this broken shell which indicated the crab must be large too. Our shell expert advises always to take two sides of the shell for correct identification. 

 DIY Dog Sweater: Celebrating #animalwelfarefortnight , today we conducted a unique virtual volunteering programme for @wearegoodera client @netappindia. The employees upcycled an old sweater to make a dog sweater for the stray dogs of their locality. Some planned to donate such sweaters to animal shelters or organisations working for animal welfare.  

 Virtual Shore Walk to Chimbai Beach: We conducted two sessions for students of Singhania School in collaboration with @unitedwaymumbai . The sessions were attended by 704 students. The children were thrilled to learn about the lesser known species.  

 VAN MAHOTSAV CELEBRATION (1 July 2021): On the eve of this auspicious day we announced our Invasive Plant Removal Programme of Non-resident Plants (NRP). 

American Mint or Pig Nut (Hyptis suaveolens) is an annual herb that grows in disturbed habitats. It is a prolific seed producer which grows into dense thickets in a short period. Thanks to its capability to stick to fur and cloth it disperses to undisturbed areas, where it can remain dormant for extended periods until vegetation is cleared. It has the ability to shade out and displace native vegetation, especially in grazed or disturbed areas.

 We are finally started our very first plantation drive at Achari Kunta Lake, Hyderabad. It was also a launch of 10-day Harita Haram (annual plantation drive) of Municipal Corporation. The event included Plantation by Government officials inside the lake. The commissioner, Mayor, MLA and Corporator also joined this event.  

 On the occasion of NMW 2021, Our Moth Lady, Ecopreneur Shubha / Dr. V. Shubhalaxmi Vaylure shed some light on the Life History of Moths, which go unknowingly unnoticed very often. She spoke about the difference between moths and butterflies and how coevolved these citters are e.g. Moths and their host-plants and the tiny intricacies that lies within their lifecycle. The highlight of this talk was how to identify moth caterpillars and rear them by documenting in the data sheet and photographs.    

  Tree tagging activity 

 we successfully conducted a tree tagging event on a sunny sunday morning. The volunteers turned out to be in great numbers and worked with zeal. A total of 16 volunteers joined us on Friendship day! Volunteers indeed have an amazing contribution/influence on our organization's mission.  We tagged 460+ trees in less than two hours 

Plantation Review atTaloja Hill Forest: After our successful plantation of 5000 saplings in last two years, we carried out Plantation review(Counting the number of individual saplings/ trees & classifying them by species) in order to digitize and inventorize them. 

Plantation review helps in monitoring the plant mortality rates. Our team members Suhas Gosavi and Ved More. Overall 5% mortality was recorded.

  Sketch the Lake: A painting competition was organised on the banks of Achari Kunta Lake on the occasion of Independence Day. Over 60 students participated in the event which was conducted on 14-15 August. This was organised by our local partner Prahari Trust and our newly appointed Lake Warden Shri Ram Krishna Kumar. Participants received their certificates.  

  On the occasion of 'Clean up the world weekend' held on the 3rd weekend of September every year. We Conducted a Deweeding Activity at Achari Kunta Lake, Hyderabad on Sunday morning. This activity was led by Mr. Raghu (Prahari trust) with the help of  Mr. Ram(Caretaker). A total of 14 enthusiastic volunteers joined us for the event which helped us to remove obnoxious weeds growing around the lake area. It is a crucial Lake management intervention to encourage native species growth. Also, it helps for the beautification of the lake. 

 we celebrated Wildlife week at Ambivli Biodiversity Park by organizing a volunteering event. 

This activity was led by Mr. Santosh Nishad  and Ambivli caretakers team .A group of 14 volunteers joined us, which included @dcb_bank  employees and community volunteers. They helped in in planting 100 plus saplings in the thematic zones of the Biodiversity park..  

 we celebrated World Food Day (October 16th) at our SGNP restoration site. A group of 5 enthusiastic volunteers joined us for the Tree guard making, Deweeding, Seed dibbling and Mulching activity. The Volunteers worked efficiently and, They made 7 tree guards which will provide protection to our plants, sowed 150+ fever nut seeds and added mulch to our existing saplings in a span of two hours. 

On 10th December 2021, we conducted an event for KPMG Indiacorporate employees. A total of 40 volunteers attended the event. Dr. V Shubhalaxmi (Moth Lady of India) delivered her talk on basics Nature Club, volunteers were trained for starting a Recycling programme at schools. She emphasized on diverse topics like environmental pollution, sustainability, waste audit, composting  recycling, and how our little efforts can have a tremendous positive impact on the planet earth. The volunteers were delighted and the talk bought a change in their perception about nature and environment!

Also, Our team members Nishtha and Ved demonstrated on How to make a grow bag from recycled plastic bags to the volunteers