Jadav "Molai" Payeng is the subject of a short documentary called Forest Man, and when you read his story you'll understand why. Payeng is basically the living embodiment of the philosophy that one person can make a difference, and the difference he's made is incredibly inspiring: since 1979, Payeng has been planting a tree everyday on the barren sandbar island in the Brahmaputra river. In that time, he has built a forest reserve covering 1,360 acres (for comparison, Central Park only has a surface area of 778 acres). The Reserve is now the home to wild animals, birds, and plants that before withered and died on the sandbank and has successfully built a whole new ecosystem. The forest, called Molai forest after him, is located near Kokilamukh of Jorhat, Assam, India.
The turning point for Jadav was when he found a number of dead snakes in the sandy area after a flood. Those reptiles encouraged him to build a habitat where animals wouldn’t need to feel threatened or have their homes taken away from them. “The snakes died in the heat" the now 47-year-old said to 'The Times of India' Newspaper "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, plant bamboo instead. It was painful, but I did what I had to do. There was nobody to help me. Nobody was interested".
Since building his forest, Payeng has become its caretaker in more ways than one. In 2013, he stopped poachers from killing his forest's rhinos, calling the authorities in time. In 2015, he was honored with the fourth highest civilian award in India, called the Padma Shri. He hopes to expand even further to another sandbar in the Brahmaputra, because even after almost forty years of doing something small every day, he's not done making a difference.
“I will continue to plant until my last breath,” Jadav said.
What a fantastic story - what a great inspiration!
Watch the following YouTube clip: (1.07) 📽
Reference
Greenmatters article, 2017 (viewed 11.1.18) - http://www.greenmatters.com/community/2017/08/21/e7htk/man-plants-tree-every-day-for-37-years