Aimed at raising awareness about the urgent need to address climate change and encourage public engagement in planting trees to benefit the environment, a first-of-its-kind “Run to Reforest” would be flagged off from the High School junction at 6 am on November 11.
The run would cover a stretch of 7 km from the High School junction via Secretariat junction-NPSC –Merima-IG Stadium. Announcing this at a press conference here on Monday, The Entrepreneurs Associates (tEA) chief executive officer (CEO) Neichute Doulo said the “Run to Reforest” was being organised as part of the Trees for Wealth Movement (TfW), a flagship programme of tEA that was launched in November 2019.
He revealed that tEA aspired to plant three billion fruit trees by 2050, including two million fruit trees and three million non-fruit trees by 2025, 10 million non-fruit trees by 2030, 200 million fruit trees and 500 million non-fruit trees by 2035 and one billion fruit trees and two billion non-fruit trees by 2050.
He claimed that seven lakh fruit trees and two lakh non-fruit trees had been planted across Nagaland and Manipur to date. He stated that the TfW movement was aligned with tEA’s core mission of fostering entrepreneurship and livelihood development with a focus on climate action.
The CEO explained that the initiative aimed to not only have a positive environmental impact, but also generate revenue, provide employment opportunities locally, bolster related industries and, most significantly, counter urbanisation by enabling farmers to flourish in their native lands.
He informed the media that they also engaged in purchasing products directly from farmers as a means of assisting them with marketing their produce. Doulo said tEA was actively engaged with 27,000 farmers in Nagaland, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh, implementing diverse livelihood initiatives to promote agriculture. He expressed confidence that, considering the ongoing progress, they were on track to meet the set objectives.
Additionally, he revealed that tEA was collaborating with government bodies, corporate social responsibility programmes and the general public, besides partnering with organisations that shared the same vision to work towards the common goal.
Due to the substantial number of fruit trees already planted, he hoped a substantial revenue would be generated, adding that there were also plans for food processing and market expansion.
He said the run would be community based and would showcase that it was not difficult to plant trees, including fruit trees such as persimmon, wild apple, wild pears, chestnut, avocado, etc, along with non-fruit trees such as timber and some nitrogen-fixing trees of much economic importance.
As per plan, the “Run to Reforest” participants would comprise four categories – school students, college students, professionals and others, and students below 12 years, while prizes would consist of cash and certificates.
Doulo appealed to public to register for the run, adding that on-the-spot registration would also be available.
tEA operations supervisor Chunjanglu said the organisation was founded in 2000 with a vision to promote entrepreneurship in the state and develop sustainable livelihoods.
She informed the media that it was formed at a time when entrepreneurship was looked down, adding that the organisation’s vision has not only confined to Nagaland but also other north-eastern states. For queries and updates, tEA could be contacted at 7610080033 and 8259856157, or through theentrepreneurship@gmail.com