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This tribesman planted a forest in India that’s bigger than Central Park

Jadav ‘Molai’ Payeng began planting seedlings in 1979, and the forest has grown so big that it has sheltered tigers and elephants.

• By Arundhati Nath Contributor

June 16, 2016 | Jorhat, India

Jadav “Molai” Payeng, a simple Mising tribesman in India, began planting seedlings on a barren sandbar in Jorhat district in 1979. Some 35 years later, he is credited with single-handedly planting and nurturing a forest that is bigger than Central Park in New York.

Mr. Payeng did not set out with that ambition. Rather, a heart-wrenching sight touched him deeply.

Assam, a state in India’s northeast that includes Jorhat, faces flood damage every year, and 1979 was not an exception. In addition to “devastating floods [washing] onshore a huge heap of garbage,” Payeng says, “hundreds of snakes” also washed up. The snakes died in the excess heat on that sandbar. It was “a piteous sight,” says Payeng, who was 16 at the time.

He visited the elders of the Deori community who lived a few miles away. “I asked the elders if there were any ways to save these poor creatures from dying,” he recalls. They asked him to plant the world’s tallest grass – bamboo. “The shade of the long bamboo plants would help keep the area cool,” he says.

He planted the 50 shoots that he says the village elders gave him. But he didn’t stop, instead planting more shoots every day. Days passed into months and months rolled into years, but still, Payeng did not stop. And he tended to the growing plants without help from anyone.

The forest planted by Payeng is now known as Molai Kathoni – Molai being Payeng’s nickname and kathoni meaning forest in Assamese. The density of the woods makes it hard to believe it has been planted by a human.

Today, Payeng’s work takes on an environmental dimension that goes far beyond saving snakes and has earned him recognition in India and abroad.

“Jadav Payeng has played a very important role [in] the conservation of the eco-system of Assam and [India’s] North-East,” says Palash Ranjan Goswami, secretary-general of Seven Look, a nongovernmental organization based in northeastern India that focuses on the conservation of wildlife. “His activities have motivated upcoming generations to work for the benefit of Mother Nature,” says Mr. Goswami, who made his comments via email.

Payeng studied up to the 10th standard at a school in Jorhat and currently lives in the nearby village of Kokilamukh with his wife and three children. He owns about 50 cows and buffaloes and sells milk for a living. His day starts before dawn when he milks the livestock. By midmorning he starts on his way to the forest.

Clad in a Mising-styled lower garment and a short-sleeved top, he cycles about 1-1/4 miles to Kartik Chapori, then rows his boat to get to the other side of the river. He has to cycle for another three miles to reach the forest.

He makes this trip every day.

The forest has numerous varieties of plants, and among the thousands of trees are “ leteku , poniol , gamari , segun , teteli ...” Payeng smiles as he talks about the varieties, which in English include tamarind, teak, jackfruit, silk cotton, mango, mulberry, Indian rosewood, banyan, and custard-apple.

Watering 1,360 acres

As Payeng was cultivating the forest, it was difficult to water the entire area by himself, so he devised a clever but simple solution. “I bought some big earthen pots which could hold five liters [more than a gallon] of water, and made small holes at their bottoms,” he says. He then tightened the holes with hay and “placed the water-filled pots on the ground near the growing saplings.”

This made the water drip slowly, and it was possible to water this 1,360-acre area every day.

The forest has also been home to tigers, rhinoceroses, rabbits, deer, vultures, and other varieties of birds.

During a visit in March, the rustle of leaves swayed by the breeze can be heard along with the sound of the cuckoo bird. Payeng points to the bark of a large tree and says, “Look at these scratch marks – the tiger sharpened its claws here.” When the monsoons come, herds of elephants, as well as deer and rabbits, visit the forest.

Not everyone, however, is a fan of Payeng’s work. Around 2008, a herd of wild elephants destroyed homes in the village of Aruna Chapori. When the residents came to know that Payeng had planted a forest in which the elephants were taking shelter, they grew violent and wanted to destroy the forest.

Payeng strongly objected. “Cut me before you cut down the trees,” he recalls telling them. He asserts that trees have always helped the human race and should be protected to help conserve the environment.

Goswami of Seven Look notes that his organization has worked to help residents understand Payeng’s efforts. “We have tried to provide a helping hand to Jadav by educating the people of the neighborhood. We’ve tried to make them understand the importance of Molai kathoni so that they cooperate and help Mr Payeng in his work,” he says.

Environmental education, Payeng says, should be compulsory starting in primary school. “Every student taking admission in a school should practically plant and nurture two saplings. Only then will they earn their own oxygen,” he says.

Payeng also says that India’s education system should place more importance on the implementation of what is being taught. “Students are reading about global warming and the needs of the environment in books, but they are not doing anything for the environment practically,” he laments.

Honors near and far

Payeng’s work was unknown to the world until Jitu Kalita, a local journalist and wildlife photographer, accidentally discovered him in the forest. He published an article about Payeng’s work in a local newspaper in 2010. Two years later, Payeng was named “Forest Man of India” by Sudhir Kumar Sopory, then vice chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

In 2013, William Douglas McMaster completed a short documentary on Payeng’s work, titling it “Forest Man.” It won the 2014 Best Documentary prize at the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase in the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival.

And last year, Payeng was conferred the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award given by the government of India.

“With sheer hard work and perseverance, Jadav has shown the world the power of will of a single human being,” writes Rituraj Phukan, secretary-general of Green Guard Nature Organization, in an email. Green Guard is another conservation NGO based in northeastern India. “He has achieved something that will be hard to emulate and his creation, the forest which now bears his name, will inspire generations to come,” Mr. Phukan adds.

Although Payeng has gained national and international fame, he still seems oblivious to it. He says it is his duty to grow trees. “Nature is nothing other than a form of God Himself. I will continue on my journey to plant trees,” he says.

Payeng now receives donations from abroad. Also, he has employed four people who assist him with planting trees.

“Being a citizen of the country where Gautam Buddha attained enlightenment under a banyan tree, isn’t it our responsibility to protect our forests?” he asks. “Humans are said to be the smartest of all life-forms on earth, but it’s the humans who are responsible for the degradation of the environment.”

Payeng isn’t stopping with his forest. Majuli, one of the world’s largest river islands, is situated in the Brahmaputra River. It has been shrinking year after year because of erosion. Payeng wants to plant trees to protect this island and make it a sustainable tourist spot.

He is also undertaking the planting of trees along National Highways 37 and 52 in Dibrugarh and Dhemaji districts in Assam. Those areas “have witnessed massive destruction of forests because of the ongoing Bogibeel bridge project,” he says.

Payeng is confident about his mission.

How to take action

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• Cover Story

Extraordinary Indians: How 'Forest Man of India' Jadav Payeng singlehandedly turned fallow land into a thriving biome in Majuli, Assam

With only 50 bamboo seeds, 25 saplings and a deep, enduring passion for the environment, jadav payeng began his 40-year mission to transform the fallow land of majuli assam into a thriving 550-acre biome.        .

The Man Who Grew A Forest Jadav Payeng, 62

Knots of dead snakes had washed ashore, as the flooded Bramhaputra waters receded. As a teenaged Payeng walked the sun-baked shore, the sight of these snakes getting fried by the sun made him worry: What if this happens to people?

Payeng doggedly funnelled his fears in to transforming that fallow land into a 550-hectare, biome in Majuli, Assam—one tree at a time. “I started planting trees in 1979. The Deori community elders told me if I wanted to prevent snakes from dying, I should plant the world’s tallest grass. I didn’t know then; they meant bamboo. They gave me 50 bamboo seeds and 25 saplings, and that’s how this began.”

Payeng knew simply sowing a seed, didn’t mean it would sprout and thrive. The bamboo plants needed water. “I bought 50 earthen pots, poked holes in each and used them to water the plants. I would go fill them up every five days.” As the waters of the Brahmaputra brought plants and seeds downstream and washed them ashore, Payeng would sift through the debris and plant them on the sandbar as well.

Soon, he was collecting seeds from the locals and planting them. “I have to acknowledge all the help I have gotten from my village. The elders have such an intimate relationship with the natural world, and so much knowledge. They lived without disturbing the balance with nature. When I was struggling to keep my trees healthy, they told me that Amroli (red) ants can help. So, I would collect them in a sack and carry them to the sandbar. This is the kind of practical knowledge we need to pass on to our young.”

Payeng grew up around men who passed on a love for the environment and encouraged him. “As a kid, I used to be asked to plant paan during Bohag (April)—the ones I planted would always flourish. Not everyone can grow paan, you know,” he says. “I would get 25 paise per plant. Then, 25 paise would buy you 1.5 kgs of peanuts—I was motivated by that greed,” he says, laughing. One day, as he was on this errand a family friend took his hand, turned over his palm and told him, his lines were auspicious. “He told me to continue this work for life and I would become someone good in life.”

Prophecy or not, Payeng—known to most by the nickname ‘Molai’—continues his work. Every day at dawn the 62-year-old sets out for his forest. Mola’r Forest—as the locals fondly call it in honour of its creator–caretaker—bursts with varied flora and fauna, including 1,000 deer, several species of migratory birds and leopards. It’s also a refuge for rhinos during the region’s annual floods and an elephant corridor. He is currently working on a 200-hectare green cover, a project he started in 2011, with the help of the administration. “This will be done in 20 years,” he says.

After a 2010 news report brought him media attention, multiple awards and recognition followed. He was also awarded the Padma Shri in 2015. Payeng has recently signed an agreement with FundaciÓn Azteca, a Mexican non-profit organization, to collaborate on environmental work in the north-American country.

Having never expected fame, he says “I grew up loving nature—clear blue skies, tall trees, birds and animals. I tell everyone: It is not human beings who changed my life. It’s the trees that have put clothes on my back, birds who have taken me across seven seas, from the land where the sun rises first, to where the sun sets last.”

This profile is part of RD's annual series 'Extraordinary Indians' that celebrates ordinary individuals changing their communities through courage, compassion and selfless service to humanity. To read about more local heroes click here . 

A Human History in Rust

In Conversation with Ankur Warikoo

Interview: How Jane Goodall is Keeping Hope Alive

Heart and Seoul

Jadav Payeng: The man who planted an entire forest by himself

Jadav payeng, known as the forest man of india, spent 30 years of his life planting trees to save his island, creating a forest and restoring wildlife in it..

Susan Fourtané

Jadav Payeng: The Forest Man of India/Facebook

Jadav Payeng is better known as the Forest Man of India. He earned this name by spending 30 years of his life planting trees, creating a real man-made forest of 550 hectares. Thanks to this reforestation, wildlife has returned to the area. Incredibly, he did it all by himself. This is his story. 

Molai Kathoni forest: A one-man-made forest 

The Mulai Reserve is a forest on the Majuli Island in the Brahmaputrar river near Kokilamukh in the Jorhat district in Assam, India. It has a total area of about 1,000 hectares and is under continuous threat due to the extensive soil erosion on its banks.

Majuli has shrunk over the past 70 years by more than half. There are concerns that it could be submerged within the next 20 years. To fight this, in 1980, the Assam Forestry Division of Golaghat district began a plan to reforest 200 hectares of the forest in one of the sandbars of the Brahmaputra river. 

Planemad/Wikimedia Commons

However, the program was sadly abandoned in 1983. After that, the forest was single-handedly attended by Jadav Payeng over the course of over 30 years. He began planting bamboo. Then, he continued planting other species. He wants to spread his Molai Forest to Bongoan of Majuli.

He planted and tended trees along a sandbar on Majuli Island . Majuli is the biggest river island in the world. The Molai forest now encompasses an area of about 1,360 acres/550 hectares of forest. The area can be compared to the size of 15 football stadiums together.

The Molai forest created by Jadav Payeng is largest than Central Park in New York City. Thanks to him, the Molai forest now houses Bengal tigers, Indian rhinoceros, reptiles, over 100 deers, and rabbits in addition to monkeys and several varieties of birds, including a large number of vultures. 

Manamohana Holla K/Wikimedia Commons

There are several thousands of trees, including valcol, arjun ( Terminalia arjuna ), Pride of India ( Lagerstroemia speciosa ), royal poinciana ( Delonix regia ), silk trees ( Albizia procera ), moj ( Archidendron bigeminum ) and cotton trees ( Bombax ceiba ), among others. Bamboo alone covers an area of over 300 hectares.

The government only learned about Jadav’s forest in 2008 when a herd of around 100 wild elephants strayed into it. Since then, they are regular visitors to the forest every year. They generally stay in the forest for around six months. The elephants have given birth to 10 calves in the forest. 

In his honor, the Molai forest was named after Padma Shri Jadav “Molai” Payeng, the Indian environmental activist and forestry worker who tries to save the island where he lives by planting one tree every day. 

Forest Man: Award-winning documentary films

The Molai forest and Jadav Payeng have been the subject of a number of award-winning documentary films. In 2012, a locally made documentary film produced by Jitu Kalita,  The Molai Forest , was screened at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Jitu Kalita, who lives near Jadav Payeng’s house, has also been featured and given recognition for his work reporting the life and accomplishment of Jadav Payeng through his documentary film.

Watch Forest Man full documentary film below: 

The Molai Forest was also featured in the 2013 documentary film  Foresting Life , directed by the Indian documentary filmmaker Aarti Shrivastava.

In 2013, William Douglas McMaster’s documentary film  Forest Man  pledged 8,327 US dollars on a Kickstarter campaign for the post-production of this documentary film. Forest Man was shown at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. 

Jadav Payeng: Forest Man of India 

Bijit Dutta/Wikimedia Commons

Jadav Payeng is an inspirational environmental activist. He upgraded a chapori of the river Brahmaputra to a reserve forest all by himself. He began his incredible journey in 1979 when he was only 16 years old.

Jadav Payeng is a humble farmer from a marginalized tribal community in the region of Assam, India. He is the son of a poor buffalo trader. When he started planting trees in 1979 as a teenager, it was because he had seen dead snakes piled on the sand. 

Humanity Watchdog

The snakes had died due to the high temperatures and the lack of shade or tree cover. Since he started, he invested over 30 years of his life to make a difference in the world trying to save Majuli from erosion by planting thousands of trees for almost 40 years.

Which country has the largest man-made forest in the world?

China already has the largest human-made forest in the world. The forest is known as the Great Green Wall. This man-made forest has been designed to stop desertification and fight climate change . This Chinese forest is meant to eventually cover more than 42 percent of China’s landmass.

Alpha/Flickr

Ordinary citizens have planted billions of trees across China since 2010,  making the Chinese forestation program greater than any seen elsewhere. However, this is the effort of an entire population toward a common goal. The forestation of the Molai Forest is the result of the effort of one man only. This is what makes it unique.  

Jadav and the Tree Place

Eyefry/Wikimedia Commons

Jadav’s story is so powerful and inspiring that there is a book for children telling how he made the forest all by himself home to wild animals and tried to save his island. Jadav and the Tree Place written and illustrated by Vinayak Varma was translated into different languages; the book is available on Storyweaver. 

It was recently announced on Jadav’s Facebook page , where he promotes tree planting, that Jadav Payeng, the Forest Man of India has made it to the textbooks of the Maharashtra School Board.

Earth Day is every day: Reforestation fights climate change 

According to Earth Day Organization, deforestation is the second cause of global warming. It produces about 24 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Around 350 million people live close to or within forests around the world. A total of 1.6 billion people rely on forests for their livelihood. Indigenous communities are especially dependent on forests. Forests provide a total of around US$ 75–100 billion per year in goods and services.

According to the International Union of Concerned Scientists , forests are home to 80 percent of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity. Preserving their environment is paramount for all species, including humans. 

Combatting deforestation, by all means, has been regarded as one of the most promising and cost-effective ways to lower carbon emissions. Forest restoration potentially translates into over one-third of the total climate change mitigation required globally by 2030. Scientists have issued a deadline of 2035 to act on climate change or else we will pass a point of no return.

The global effort aims to restore 150 million hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded lands by 2020 reaching 350 million hectares by 2030. This would capture about a sixth of the carbon necessary to close the emissions gap.

Tree Planting Day: September 21

Imagine how fast the global goal to fight climate change could advance if only there were more Jadav Payengs in the world. Anyone can make a difference by planting one tree at a time. Those interested in planting trees to help the environment can contact the following organizations: 

Earth Day Organization : Global tree planting activities and Earth Day campaigns.

ENO program Tree Planting Tree Day for global tree planting schools and communities.

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something and I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.” -Edward Everett Hale

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A Lifetime Of Planting Trees On A Remote River Island: Meet India's Forest Man

Julie McCarthy

Jadav Payeng, "The Forest Man of India," has planted tens of thousands of trees over the course of nearly 40 years. He has made bloom a once desiccated island that lies in the Brahamputra river, which runs through his home state of Assam. Furkan Latif Khan/NPR hide caption

Jadav Payeng, "The Forest Man of India," has planted tens of thousands of trees over the course of nearly 40 years. He has made bloom a once desiccated island that lies in the Brahamputra river, which runs through his home state of Assam.

On a journey to the little known Northeast region of India, you may encounter a dizzying array of traditional tribes, rugged beauty and wildlife, including the rare white rhinos. It's here we discover perhaps an even rarer creature: the "Forest Man of India." A humble farmer from a marginalized tribal community, Jadav Payeng has single-handedly changed the landscape in his state of Assam.

Payeng, 58, is reclaiming an island in the mighty Brahmaputra river where increased flooding has changed the flow and built up sandbars along the long stretch of the river that runs through the middle of Assam.

Geographically separated from the Indian subcontinent, the northeast juts toward China, and is nestled along the borders of Bhutan and Tibet. Google Maps hide caption

Payeng keeps the hours of an insomniac. We arrange ourselves in a boat for a short passage with him to his river island. By 4:30 a.m. we're gliding across a moonlit channel. A fish jumps — making perfect ripples on the water's still surface.

We alight on Payeng's island as the pink sky begins to push out the stars. The riverbanks are home to some 250 families from the Mishing tribe. Payeng explains that they have inhabited the area for eons, and there are no deeds or titles to land.

He hauls his boat ashore, unloads his bicycle and begins the daily 2-mile trek to his vegetable farm and his life's mission: reviving the ecosystem here.

Left: The sun rises over the Brahmaputra river, which hosts innumerable tiny islands within its ever-shifting riverbanks, a feature hydrologists call "braiding." Right: Jadav Payeng rowing his boat across a channel of the Brahmaputra, past sandbars and rare Gangetic dolphins, to reach the forest that bears his nickname, Molai. Furkan Latif Khan/NPR hide caption

When Payeng was a boy, the son of poor a buffalo trader, this strip of land in the middle of the river was attached to the mainland. Erosion from powerful river waters of the Brahmaputra severed it. He bends down to pick up a handful of earth to explain how the island's landscape has changed.

"Earlier, this was all sand. No trees, no grass — nothing was here. Only driftwood. Now, seeds of grass carried downriver from China wash up, and pollinate, on their own."

What began as a bamboo stand has grown into a dense 1,300-acre forest. The biome single-handedly nurtured by Payeng for nearly 40 years is home to tigers, deer, monkeys, elephants and a wide variety of birds. Furkan Latif Kahn/NPR hide caption

What began as a bamboo stand has grown into a dense 1,300-acre forest. The biome single-handedly nurtured by Payeng for nearly 40 years is home to tigers, deer, monkeys, elephants and a wide variety of birds.

Today fields of swaying grasses stretch into the distance. Along with emerald pastures dotted with cows, cotton trees stand straight in rows as far as the eye can see — "excellent plywood," Payeng says. He planted them, his hands transforming this once barren island the size of Martha's Vineyard.

"First with bamboo trees, then with cotton trees. I kept planting — all different kinds of trees," Payeng says.

"It's not as if I did it alone," says the self-styled naturalist. "You plant one or two trees, and they have to seed. And once they seed," he adds reverentially, "the wind knows how to plant them, the birds here know how to sow them, cows know, elephants know, even the Brahmaputra river knows. The entire ecosystem knows."

Jadav sought no permission to plant a forest. He just grew it, carrying on what he says is his Mishing tribe's tradition of honoring nature.

Jadav Payeng covers the distance from the island banks to his forest on his bicycle, carrying the supplies he uses while working on his forest and abundant vegetable farm. Furkan Latif Khan/NPR hide caption

Jadav Payeng covers the distance from the island banks to his forest on his bicycle, carrying the supplies he uses while working on his forest and abundant vegetable farm.

Payeng started planting here in 1979, stirred by a freakish site: dead snakes piled on sand in scorching temperatures, perished for lack of shade or tree cover.

"When I saw it, I thought even we humans will have to die this way in the heat. It struck me. In the grief of those dead snakes, I created this forest."

Over the course of nearly four decades, Payeng says he's planted so many trees, he's "lost count." He estimates there are "hundreds of thousands" of them on the island now, groves so thick they shocked even the Forest Department when it stumbled on them.

Once considered "crazy" by local inhabitants, Payeng is celebrated today as a conservationist. Sitting in a meadow beside his forest, he credits a botanical scientist for nurturing his fascination for the natural world.

Mist rises from the tall grass that has grown over the island in the last four decades since Jadav Payeng initiated an effort to transform the sandy stretch of land into a vibrant ecosystem. Furkan Latif Khan/NPR hide caption

Mist rises from the tall grass that has grown over the island in the last four decades since Jadav Payeng initiated an effort to transform the sandy stretch of land into a vibrant ecosystem.

"Every day he taught me how to plant trees and care for them. Since childhood. It's in my soul," he says.

Whacking back foliage, this Mishing tribesman separates out poisonous plants from medicinal herbs. He drinks a concoction of herbs every day for his health. He smiles and says a hundred different herbs grown on his island make up the recipe for the local beer.

Payeng guides us to some of the oldest trees he's planted. Beneath a high canopy he leans against a 30-year-old teak tree with fresh scratches on the bark where a tiger has sharpened its claws.

He says that he's lost 85 cows and 96 buffalo tigers, and describes coming face to face with one of the big cats that now inhabit the island.

Payeng scoffs at the danger. "I wasn't scared," he says. "I know that tigers have half the courage of women. This one killed a buffalo, saw me, and slinked off."

Jadav Payeng kneels before a fire in his cowshed, preparing morning tea before he ventures out on his daily rounds tending to the Molai Forest and collecting edible and medicinal herbs. Furkan Latif Khan/NPR hide caption

Jadav Payeng kneels before a fire in his cowshed, preparing morning tea before he ventures out on his daily rounds tending to the Molai Forest and collecting edible and medicinal herbs.

"I never feel danger in the forest," says this self-described lone wolf. "It's my biggest home," a home which in addition to tigers is filled with deer, monkeys, elephants, and a wide variety of birds.

This father of three delights in the fact that wild elephants cross the shallow river waters to roam his forest. Island villagers complain the herd tramples their fields and destroys their homes. But Payeng defends the animals and says it is "man that must adjust" to these woods. When islanders suggest that Payeng cut back the forest to dissuade the beasts, he sternly warns, "You will have to kill me first before you kill the trees."

Left: Tree bark is fanned out on the ground to be dried and used as building material for local houses. The traditional homes fashion walls out of sheets made from the strips of bark. Right: Payeng holds stalks of herbs he has just cut and examines elephant dung left in a clearing in his forest. A herd of some 115 wild elephants has been visiting the island since the reforestation. Furkan Latif Khan/NPR hide caption

Payeng has received one of India's highest civilian awards, the Padma Shri , and many other honors.

The dense forest bearing his nickname, Molai, now sprawls over 1,300 acres. He says he's planting an additional 5,000 acres on the island, aiming to spread the greenery along a 500-mile stretch of the Brahmaputra's barren sandbars and islands. He feels he's "set an example of what one man can do" for the environment.

Yet India's Forest Man has lived a life that most people dare not imagine: rising before dawn, paddling across a river, nearly every day, for almost 40 years to replenish nature.

Jadev Payeng cycling back to his boat at day's end. Furkan Latif Khan/NPR hide caption

When asked how he has sustained his passion, Payeng strikes a metaphysical tone. "No one sees God," he says. "I see God in nature. Nature is God. It gives me inspiration. It gives me power ... As long as it survives, I survive."

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"We are all connected," The wisdom of Jadav Payeng, India's Forest Man

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Known as the “Forest Man of India,” Jadav Payeng planted a tree daily to restore his homeland and created a forest bigger than New York City’s Central Park.

A visionary act of reforestation

At the age of 16, Jadav “Molai” City’s Payeng encountered a distressing scene on Mājuli, the world’s largest river island in India’s Brahmaputra river. Hundreds of snakes had succumbed to a severe drought. 

Even in his youth, Payeng felt compelled to take action. In 1979, he embarked on a mission to plant one tree sapling daily in the barren soil. Fast forward over 40 years, and his forest now spans 1,390 acres. 

A growing Eden

Mājuli, once under the constant threat of river-induced flooding and erosion, has now become a sanctuary for hundreds of species. Payeng’s initial arduous efforts evolved into a self-sustaining forest from bamboo to various trees. As the trees grew, so did the population of inhabitants — birds, deer, rhinos, tigers, and even a herd of elephants that visit the forest for three months each year.

Planting one tree a day, Jadav Payeng has created a lush forest reserve. Image credit: The Forest Man of India, Facebook.

Being recognized as the “Forest Man of India” 

In 2007, a turning point occurred when a photojournalist stumbled upon Payeng’s profound endeavor. The subsequent article brought attention not only to the Indian government but also to the entire nation. 

Payeng, now adorned with the title “Forest Man of India,” received multiple awards for his extraordinary achievements and delivered impactful TED talks. His innovative solutions, such as planting coconut trees to combat soil erosion, garnered recognition for their potential to benefit both Majuli Island and the fight against climate change.

Molai, the man and the forest

In recognition of Payeng’s unparalleled environmental activism, the forest was named “Molai” in his honor. His inspirational story transcended borders, inspiring a children’s book, "Jadav and the Tree Place.” 

Award-winning documentaries showcase his journey, attracting visitors worldwide to witness the flourishing Molai forest. Moreover, his story has become a valuable lesson in ecology, incorporated into curriculum across schools in the US and beyond.

"We are all connected," Jadav Payeng believes in the harmonious existence of humans and nature. Image credit: The Forest Man of India, Facebook.

Creating a better world for all

Payeng’s life’s work extends beyond the creation of a lush forest. His trees absorb carbon dioxide, acting as a natural carbon sink, contributing to overall ecosystem health, supporting biodiversity, regulating water cycles, and providing essential habitats for various species.

His reforestation efforts are a tangible and impactful solution to climate change. The Molai forest is a living example of how individual actions can contribute to a sustainable and harmonious coexistence between humanity and the environment.

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Old News, Vintage Photos & Nostalgic Stories

The man who planted an entire forest by himself.

These days the news is full of stories about environmental degradation. However, the story of Jadav “Molai” Payeng stands as an example of the exact opposite.

Payeng, from the district of Jorhat in India’s northeast state of Assam, is of the Mishing tribe.

His remarkable fathering-a-forest story began when he was 16-years-old, in 1979, following the annual monsoon floods.

The floods washed away topsoil and devastated local wildlife areas. In the aftermath on that particular year, Payeng observed that a large number of snakes had washed up on a sandbar of the nearby Brahmaputra river — and he watched and wept as, with no shade to be found, they slowly died in the heat of the sun.

He was quick to figure that what the snakes needed was trees. Years of deforestation in the region had left large tracts of land barren and vulnerable to erosion. Seeking help from the forestry department was fruitless. The teenager was told that no trees would grow there, and it was suggested Payeng could try to grow bamboo on the sandbar if he wanted.

And that is how began.

Payeng soon planted his very first bamboo saplings. Just one young man working alone, slowly, day by day and year by year, transformed the dead landscape into a thriving, complex jungle ecosystem that now covers around 1,360 acres.

In the beginning, to help his new plants develop and in spite of their painful bites, Payeng collected red ants which he knew would improve the soil. The shade of the bamboo thicket began attracting more insects, and as it grew, small animals too. Planting a new tree every single day quickly turned into a daily routine for Payeng. He would go on doing this for the next three decades and counting.

“The island was close to my home and I began by planting bamboo and indigenous or non-valuable plants. It’s only since the past 15 years that I have begun to plant high-value trees like teak,” Payeng told Al Jazeera .

The presence of maturing trees in the area has attracted more wildlife including migratory birds, elephants, tigers and other animals indigenous to this part of India.

When Payeng began his undertaking, most people were quick to dismiss him as being ridiculous. He was however supported by the elders in his community who recognized the threats that came with forest decline. The elders supplied Payeng with some of the first bamboo saplings.

Another issue at the beginning was to water the newly-planted trees. As his project grew to cover a larger and larger area, Payeng had to devise a unique irrigation system. He used earthen pots with tiny holes in that he positioned above each sapling on specially constructed a bamboo platforms. These would slowly drip water over several days, allowing Payeng to manage his flourishing forest.

“The education system should be like this, every kid should be asked to plant two trees,” Payeng declares.

While Payeng’s story sounds utopian, not everything always runs smoothly. The remarkable conservation efforts of the Indian man have passed unnoticed by authorities but for an incident in 2008 involving a herd of elephants and some angry villagers.

The elephants had caused damage as they passed through several nearby settlements in search of food. After they took refuge in Payeng’s forest, many locals wanted cut it down so the beasts might move on elsewhere. Payeng stood firm as steward of his forest and the animals it attracts, and local government officials were called on to intervene.

Payeng has since been collaborating with the Assam state forest department.

Some of the villagers are still unhappy. Deer and cattle that come to graze on the lush vegetation have attracted large predators such as tigers to the forest. But Payeng takes a more holistic view of the world. “Nature has made a food chain; why can’t we stick to it? Who would protect these animals if we, as superior beings, start hunting them?” he said, according to the Times of India.

Payeng India’s Jawaharlal Nehru University distinguished him as the “Forest Man of India” and the local government of Assam have named the forest Payeng grew in his honor — the Forest of Molai.

Read another story from us: Kingdom of Women – The Matriarchal Society Struggling to Keep Traditions Alive

“No one sees God,” answered Payeng when asked how he kept up with the project that basically changed his life. “I see God in nature. Nature is God. It gives me inspiration. It gives me power… As long as it survives, I survive,” he said, as reported by National Public Radio.

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Meet Jadav Molai Payeng, The Forest Man Of India, Who Has Been Planting Trees For The Last 43 Years

Climate warriors.

Jadav Molai Payeng, also called the Forest Man of India has turned 550 acres of barren land into a lush green forest on the Brahmaputra with a wide variety of birds and animals – simply by planting trees

New Delhi: In 1979 a 16-year-old started planting a tree sapling a day. Today, with that one-tree-a-day practice, he has single-handedly created a forest sprawling over the size of 15 football fields. That truly is the power of one – and the one in question is Jadav Molai Payeng, also called the Forest Man of India. Jadav Molai Payeng turned 550 acres of barren land into a lush green forest on the Brahmaputra with a wide variety of birds and animals – simply by planting trees.

Also Read: The Resilient Women Of Sundarbans Are Fighting Back Cyclones By Planting Mangroves

An agricultural scientist once told him, ‘plant trees and they will take care of us’. So, when he saw his home, Majuli island, turning into a desert, that’s exactly what he decided to do. Over the course of several decades, the 59-year-old Padma Shri awardee has earned a reputation as the Forest Man of India, who speaks passionately about biodiversity, climate change and the environment, in India and abroad, and is now helping non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in other countries plant trees and create forests too.

While speaking to NDTV, Mr Payeng said,

From 2012 to today, in ten years, awareness about the climate crisis has grown. Not just in India, but all over the world. Climate change has accelerated, and we aren’t even sure if we will survive. Our mistakes have put younger generations in danger. I am not doing this work for myself, I am doing it to make the earth a better place and to teach people the need to do this.

Also Read: Aravali Biodiversity Park: A Nursery Of Ideas With Vijay Dhasmana

Mr Payeng’s forest has been named Molai forest after him, and visitors and environmentalists travel from across the world to see it. There is a lesson amongst this dense lush greenery for the whole world.

The Forest Man of India says children must be taught to plant saplings or seeds when they are in school, and also how to care for them in the five years that it takes for that sapling to grow into a tree. This is the only way humans will realise that honouring nature is key to our own survival.

We will have to plant more trees, and make the earth green. That is how we will survive, otherwise, we simply won’t, says Mr Payeng.

The crisis is complex, but the solutions can be quite simple. And as the Forest Man himself has shown, the simplest idea can also create the most effective kind of change.

Also Read: Van Mahotsav 2022: Facts About Forests You Must Know

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the  LGBTQ population ,  indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities , people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current  COVID-19 pandemic , the need for WASH ( Water ,  Sanitation  and  Hygiene ) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight  malnutrition , mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,  adolescent health & gender awareness . Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “ code red for humanity. ” The campaign will continue to cover issues like  air pollution ,  waste management ,  plastic ban ,  manual scavenging  and sanitation workers and  menstrual hygiene . Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where  toilets  are used and  open defecation free (ODF)  status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by  Prime Minister Narendra Modi  in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.

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The Man Who Single Handedly Converted A Washed Out Land Into A 1,360 Acre Forest

Jadav "Molai" Payeng started planting bamboo saplings when he was 16 years old. Today he is 47 and lives in his own forest with tigers, rhinos and elephants!

A lmost three decades ago, a teenager, after noticing the deaths of a large number of reptiles due to a lack of a tree cover, started planting Bamboo in an area that had been washed away by floods. Today, that same land hosts 1,360 acres of Jungle called Molai Forest, named after Jadav “Molai” Payeng, the man who made this possible single handedly!

That forest is now home to Bengal tigers, Indian rhinoceros, over 100 deer and rabbits besides apes and several varieties of birds, including a large number of vultures. There are several thousand trees. Bamboo covers an area of over 300 hectares. A herd of around 100 elephants regularly visits the forest every year and generally stays for around six months. They have given birth to 10 calves in the forest in recent years. ( Source )

“The education system should be like this, every kid should be asked to plant two trees,” Payeng says.

He was 16 when the flood hit Assam, and Payeng observed that the flow of migratory birds was gradually declining to the forest areas and wetlands near his home and snakes were disappearing in large numbers. This disturbed him.

“I asked my elders, what would they do if all of us die one day, like these snakes. They just laughed and smirked but I knew I had to make the planet greener,” he says.

His village elders told him that with decline in forest cover and deforestation, animals lost their homes. The solution was to build new homes or forests for the animals, they said. ( Source )

He alerted the forest department but they asked him to plant trees himself (which he actually did). He located a riverine island, on the banks of River Brahmaputra, and began to plant the saplings. Payeng visited the island and planted a few saplings every day for three decades.

Watering the growing area of plants posed a problem. He could not draw water from the river and water all the growing plants, as the area proved to be vast for one man.

He built a bamboo platform on the top of each sapling and placed earthen pots with small holes in them. The water would gradually drip on the plants below and water them through the week until the pots were drained of water. ( Source )

Next year, in 1980, he started working with the social forestry division of Golaghat district when they launched a scheme of tree plantation on 200 hectares at Aruna Chapori situated at a distance of 5 km from Kokilamukh in Jorhat district.

Payeng was one of the labourers who worked in that 5-year-long project. He chose to stay back after the completion of the project even after other workers left. He looked after the plants and continued to plant more trees on his own, in an effort to transform the area into a forest.

Payeng belongs to a tribe called “Mishing” in Assam, India. He lives in a small hut in the forest with his wife, and his 3 children. He has cattle and buffalo on his farm and sells the milk for his livelihood, which is his only source of income.

“My friends have become engineers and are living in the city. I have sacrificed everything and this Jungle is my home now. The recognition and awards that I have received is my wealth and that makes me the happiest man in the world,” Payeng says.

Payeng was honoured at a public function arranged by the School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University on 22nd April, 2012 for his remarkable achievement.

JNU vice-chancellor Sudhir Kumar Sopory  named Jadav Payeng as “Forest Man of India”. In the month of October 2013, he was honoured at the Indian Institute of Forest Management during their annual event ‘Coalescence’. ( Source )

Isn’t it amazing to see the willpower of this man who fought alone and won the battle single-handedly? Where we don’t hesitate to cut trees for our luxuries, he has sacrificed all the worldly pleasures to save the environment and the eco-system. The country needs more such superheroes who are trying to make the Earth a better place to live for one and all.

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INSPIRING STORY

Prof RR's Repository of Inspiring True Stories and Meaningful Tales

068. Jadav Payeng: The Forest Man of India

Jadav Payeng

In 1979, floods washed a large number of snakes ashore on the sandbar of the river Brahmaputra near Jorhat in Assam, India. After the waters had receded, 16-year-old Jadav Payeng saw the dead reptiles. That changed his life forever.

“The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. I sat down and wept over their lifeless forms. It was carnage. I alerted the forest department and asked them if they could grow trees there. They said nothing would grow there. Instead, they asked me to try growing bamboo. It was painful, but I did it. There was nobody to help me. Nobody was interested,” says Payeng.

The sandbar is on Majuli, the world’s largest river island, which has a population of 150,000. Since 1917, half the landmass of Majuli has been lost to erosion.

Payeng started living on the sandbar and, in a few years, created a bamboo thicket. Then he decided to grow proper trees. Over the years, a forest of 550 ha has come up with a variety of flora and fauna. Now, more than 100 elephants live in the forest for three months a year. Endangered species like the one-horned rhino and Royal Bengal tiger have been seen in the forest. Vultures and migratory birds have appeared too.

The local people, whose homes were destroyed by the elephants, wanted to cut down the forest. Payeng dared them to kill him instead, because he treats the trees and animals like his own children.

Payeng has been planting trees for three decades. It was only in 2009 that Jitu Kalita, a photographer-journalist, discovered Payeng and his forest. Jitu wrote an article about Payeng and the world came to know about the unique forest created by one man. Since then Payeng has become famous. He has received many awards and the then President of India, Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam bestowed on him the title ‘Forest Man of India’. The government gave him the title of Padma Shri.

Payeng still lives in a modest thatched house and goes for tree planting every day. But he worries about the fate of the world. He knows also that in 15-20 years Majuli island may disappear altogether. He has ideas on how to protect Majuli through afforestation, but no one listens to him. The state government has so far not provided any financial assistance to him to implement his ideas.

Afterword: This story reads like a real life version of Jean Giono’s Man Who Planted Trees (Inspiring Story No.09 on this website). You can find several documentaries on Payeng on YouTube.

1 thought on “ 068. Jadav Payeng: The Forest Man of India ”

In spite of poverty and penury, we find people passionate about something they strongly feel about. There is a trigger in lives of certain individuals and it becomes a stage for no point of return. It becomes an obsession. The call of nature, and certain energy that remains unexplained, grips certain individuals no matter what the situation and however rough the terrain. If we are sensitive, we can come across many such people that have their own lives and are on paths not taken by the ordinary. What is required to tread such roads, as Payeng, is to nurture our passions beyond the call of livelihoods. It requires a great deal of energy, to see something beyond. The invisible becomes visible, and gives room for reality to be realised. It is beyond the realm of rituals and dogma and life becomes continuous and rhythmic flow with unprecedented parallels.

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Sustainable World

The Boy Who Grew a Forest: The Story of Jadav Payeng

In India, there is a boy who loves nature. The boy treasures his precious river-island and the wildlife who share it with him. But each year he witnesses animals displaced from loss of habitat, while his island slowly erodes away. He worries that if animals whither without trees, people will too. With nothing but a handful of bamboo saplings, the boy sets out on a mission to reclaim the land the river has taken.

The Boy Who Grew A Forest follows the true story of Mishing tribesman, Jadav Payeng, who single-handedly planted over twelve hundred acres of lush forest on a once barren island in northeastern India (Source) .

Resource Creator(s)

Sophia Gholz is an award-winning children’s book author, music lover, magic seeker, and avid reader. As a child, Sophia was always a passionate reader and artist. When not reading or drawing, she could be found at the farm riding horses or out causing mischief with her brothers. As an adult, Sophia is still an avid reader, art fanatic, and mischief-maker. When she’s not writing, you can find Sophia reading, visiting schools or exploring the outdoors with her kids. Sophia grew up in Florida, went to art school in California, and met her husband in Manhattan. She’s now enjoying life back in Florida with her family (Source) .

Kayla Harren graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City with a BFA in Illustration. Books she has illustrated include CALVIN – winner of the 2022 Lambda Literary Award, – winner of the 2019 EUREKA Gold Award, and THE BOY WHO GREW A FOREST – winner of the 2020 Crystal Kite Award. She loves animals, playing volleyball, hiking, and eating cookies with frosting. She lives in Minnesota with her husband, the incredible tattoo artist Peter Harren, and their adorable dogs. Kayla’s name is pronounced like the “kay” in “okay + “la” as in “fa la la” and Harren rhymes with “barren” or “Karen.”  Her pronouns are she/her (Source) .

Sustainable World Collaborative’s Analysis

We analyzed each resource in our database based on the Ways of Thinking from the Sustainability Education Framework for Teachers. We select only high-rated resources to include in the database. Below are our ratings and notes for this resource.

Systems Thinking

This resource encourages readers to collaborate with others in their communities, as readers watch Jadav’s process in consulting and collaborating with others in creating his forest. The book also highlights for students how different forces work together or against each other in fights for developing sustainable worlds. The book also shows development alongside reforestation without villainizing those working to improve living conditions, thereby simultaneously prioritizing sustainability, equity, and justice.

Strategic Thinking

This story remains contemporary and relevant. It highlights long term solutions to sustainability problems and evaluates the need to develop living conditions sustainably whilst reforesting lands as well. The resource connects the readers to better worlds of collaboration, justice, and community. It also highlights grassroots change driven by community action, positioning sustainability as a disposition to be adopted by all.

Values Thinking

This book uplifts traditionally marginalized voices through the centering of Jadav Payeng, a Mishing tribesman working to combat deforestation in his community. It also confronts bias through positioning communities as change agents and showing the potential for revolutionary change in one individual.

Futures Thinking

This resource encourages readers to think ahead about sustainability problems and solutions, incorporating quotes from Jadav Payeng throughout to share his wisdom and philosophy. The resource is contemporary and remains relevant. It also provides opportunities for students to think critically about sustainability problems and solutions by highlighting concerns associated with deforestation and conflicting interests competing around solutions.

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Jadav Payeng - The Forest Man of India

Popularly known as the ‘Forest Man of India’ Jadav Payeng has spent more than 30 years of his life planting 40 million trees to build a real man-made forest of 1360 acres. A feat very few people has achieved so far. So, who is Jadav Payeng and what’s his story? Let’s find out.

Forest Man of India - Jadav Payeng (image source: indiatoday)

There’s also a children’s book called ‘ Jadav and the Tree Place’ which tells his story of how he single-handedly made a forest which now houses a large number of wild creatures.

This incredible environmental activist has also signed an agreement with the NGO Fundacion Azteca of Mexico to collaborate on environmental projects with the goal of planting 7 million trees in the North American country. He has been granted a 10-year visa by the Mexican authorities.

Jadav ‘Molai’ Payeng was born on 1963 to a Mising tribe in Majuli, Assam. From a young age, Payeng was concerned about the environment. In 1979, when he was 16 years old, he witnessed that many snakes were starting to die due to rising temperature after floods washed them onto the treeless sandbar. He immediately decided to plant around 20 bamboo seedlings on the sandbar.

In the same year, he began working in the forest when the Golaghat district of Assam's social forestry division initiated a tree-planting initiative on 200 hectares at Aruna Chapori, around 5 kilometres from Kokilamukh in Jorhat. Unfortunately, the programme did not really get much work done and was discontinued in 1983.

But Payeng did not give up. He started planting and tending trees along sandbar on the Majuli island which is the world’ largest inhabited river island located in the Brahmaputra river.

And over the course of time, the forest started growing and it now encompasses an area of about 1,360 acres.

It has become home to Bengal tigers, elephant herds, Indian rhinoceros and over hundred deer, rabbits and a wide diversity of native and migratory species and thousands of trees which includes Valcol, arjun (Terminalia arjuna), ejar (Lagerstroemia speciosa), goldmohu r (Delonix regia), koroi (Albizia procera), moj (Archidendron bigeminum), himolu and many others. Bamboo covers more than 300 hectares of land.

On World Earth Day in 2010, the Government of India awarded Jadav Payeng, the title of "The Forest Man" in Delhi for turning a barren tract of 550 hectares into a beautiful green forest all by himself. In 2015, President Pranab Mukherjee bestowed the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, on him.

Jadav Payeng has become an inspiration to many and shows how we can all do our part to save the planet without waiting for others to do so. Like he says “I’ll plant till my last breath.”

It was only in 2008, when forest department officers went to the region in search of 115 elephants who had retreated into the forest after damaging property in the village of Aruna Chapori, that Jadav’s efforts came to be known to the rest of the world. The officials were taken aback by the size and density of the forest, and since then the department has returned to the location on a regular basis. The forest soon came to be known as Molai forest or Molai Kathoni, named after him.

His efforts were deeply appreciated and soon he started receiving international recognition. In recent years, Payeng has been the focus of a number of award-wining documentaries. His character inspired a fictional film starring Rana Daggubati that was released in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi under the titles “Kaadan”, “Aranya,” and “Hathi mera sathi”. The Molai Forest, a locally produced documentary film by Jitu Kalita, was shown at Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2012.

President Pranab Mukherjee awarding Padma Shri to Jadav Payeng (image source: Wikipedia)

Jadav Payeng as illustrated in the biographical children's book Jadav and the Tree-Place by Vinayak Varma (image source: Wikipedia)

Man Made - Molai Forest (image source: blog@NTU)

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India's 'Forest Man' Jadav Payeng is on a new mission to make Mexico greener

Padma shri awardee jadav 'molai' payeng, also known as the 'the forest man of india', will undertake a new mission-- to make mexico greener by replenishing its forests..

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Padma Shri awardee Jadav Payeng, who is also known as the 'The Forest Man of India', is all set to undertake a mission-- to make Mexico greener by replenishing its forests.

In December last year, 62-year-old Jadav Payeng signed an agreement with an NGO Fundacion Azteca, to collaborate on environmental projects in Mexico which aims to plant 7 million trees in the North American country.

Jadav Payeng, who is also popularly known as Molai Payeng, earned his name as 'The Forest Man of India' by spending 30 years of his life planting around 40 million trees to create a real man-made forest by changing a barren sandbar of the Brahmaputra, covering an area of 550 hectares of land which is known as 'Molai Kathoni'.

The forest Molai Kathoni, located near Kokilamukh in Assam’s Jorhat district, is now the home to tigers, elephant herds, deer, rabbits and a wide diversity of native and migratory species and thousands of trees.

READ: 'He' built a 1360 acre forest from an eroded land: Meet the forest man of India

Mexico grants 10 year visa to Payeng

The Mexican government has granted a 10-year visa to Jadav Payeng and he is slated to travel to the country in September this year.