TIST India - Chezhumai / August 2008
The International Small Group & Tree Planting Program
TIST Farmers Help Worldwide Problem
TIST TREE PLANTING INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED
TIST India: 19/8, Lake View Road, Kottur, Chennai 600 085, Tamil Madu, India
Phone ; +91 44 42188438 ( Mobile: +91 9840299822 / Email: josephrexon@tist.org / Visit us at www tist.org
Why plant trees?
= Trees filter pollution from the air
# Trees help recycle water
# Trees prevent soil loss
# Trees create shade
# Trees give shelter from wind and rain
= Trees provide homes for animals
# Trees make food for humans and wildlife
# Trees provide an interesting, soothing, learning
environment for children and your community
# Without trees, there would be no life on this planet
TIST India’s association with Tamilnadu Forestry Department
News from Mr. A.V. Venkatachalam, Conservator of Vellore District
Wish you all a Happy Independence Day
The stress on rapid economic growth has to imbalance in the eco-systems. Sustainable development is the need of the hour. We have reached the stage where our efforts to accelerate the pace of development have to be adequately balanced with measures aimed at the restoration of eco-system. The process of development, focusing on poverty alleviation should also encompass strategies for conserving biodiversity; stemming desertification; reducing erosion and recharging the ground water table. Since Tamilnadu has limited land in the forest area where free cover can be increased, it is also necessary to focus on fallow private land simultaneously for augmenting revenue to the small hold farmers.
Our main objective and in the Forest Department is to plant lot many trees appropriate to the soil & climatic conditions. We do not wish to follow monoculture, wherein, only one type of tree species is promoted. In case of any disease in monoculture system, the entire population gets washed out. We are working to develop a good biodiversity of species for stability of the system. Under the component of TCPL (Tree Cultivation in Private Land), we have raised 6 lakh high quality seedlings of different tree species like Teak, Ailanthus, Casuarina, Kumil, Redsanders and Silkcotton. These seedlings are maintained well in 25 different nurseries located in Thiruvannamalai and Vellore Districts of Tamilnadu, which will be distributed to the villagers at free of cost and part of them, will be planted only in the farmer's field by the Forest Department. Villagers can make use of this wonderful opportunity.
Never put water down the drain when there may be another use
for it such as watering a plant or garden, or cleaning.
In our country since few decades, rainfall has gone down severely due to deforestation and this has caused
adverse effect on the agriculture. Villagers can make use of the seedlings developed by Forest Department and practice good intercropping system too. If the system of planting many more frees and practicing intercropping is
followed by the villagers in a good way, it will definitely help the farmers in their day to day financial need and
moreover, our vulnerable biodiversity can be strengthened.
TIST Tree Planting India Private Limited has developed a good system for the villagers to sell the carbon sequestered by the trees planted by the villagers. It will be good for the villagers to join in TIST Program and
plant the free seedlings, which will be distributed by the Forest Department. The stipend amount given by TIST for
all the live trees would be additional revenue for the villagers.
Best of luck to the villagers who receive free seedlings from the Forest Department and for being a member in TIST India.
From Mr.Charlie Williams
Thank you for the hospitality you showed me on my recent visit to India. It was a privilege to meet few of you during my onsite visit. | was impressed by all the trees you have planted and how well they are growing. Your hard work and dedication to the program is obvious. 1 hope that you will continue your efforts and plant many more. Wish you all a Happy Independence Day. I look forward to seeing more of you on my next trip.
TIST received its Host Country Approval for it's CDM application in February 2008, The next step is to register the program with UNFCCC. Before this registration, we need to be validated by a third party (call a designated
operational entity or DOE) which is certified by the UNFCCC. TUV SUD Industrie Service GmbH, is a DOE for
CDM projects.
During September 2007, Mr.Martin Schréder of TUV SUD Industrie Service GmbH made a preliminary audit on
TIST Program and confirmed that TIST is an actual community tree planting project making ‘real’ GhG reductions, its members have planted trees in Uganda and India and those tree are sequestering carbon.
During July 2008, Dr.Hubertus Schmidtke of TUV SUD Industrie Service GmbH visited TIST program areas and conducted a full test on additionality under CDM as part of the Validation process. He compared our website data like groves perimeter, longitude & latitude, baseline quantification data, etc., with the recent data collected by him during his onsite visit. He also reviewed our GhG contracts, landownership documents, stakeholder letters and several other points of our Project Design Document. During the end of his validation schedule, Hubertus confirmed verbally that TIST Program can be approved and registered with UNFCCC.
Congratulations to all the groups and members of TIST Program. TIST thanks all the small groups and stakeholders, who supported this validation with their letters. Special thanks to
Mr.S.Kalyana Sundaram, IFS, DFO, Thiruvallur Division, Thiruvallur District and
Mr.S.K.Shanmugasundaram, IFS, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Afforestation Division, Thiruvannamalai District for theirwonderful support and guidance.
Though TIST has received a verbal approval from the validator, still there are several other items that must be addressed before the final approval letter can be issued. We hope to have them complete before the end of August and look forward to a final approval soon after,
Nameplate for Groves
Every member should remember the names of all the groves of their group. tis always better to place a nameplate in the grove. The nameplate should have the name of the group, group number and grove name. All the quantified data along with the photograph is stored in the TIST website. This data is stored in the group name under grove wise. When a visitor to our website clicks any grove, he sees the following important data:
1. The perimeter of the grove
2. Grove areain hectares
3. The longitude and latitude
4. The perimeter plotted on a satellite image
5. The picture of the TIST Small Group that has planted trees in this grove
The above data is very important and this should be perfect. This data proves that this piece of land is dedicated for TIST program by TIST Small Group member. When the quantifier goes for taking the perimeter of the grove, the owner/member of the group should proceed before the quantifier to show the exact path of theirgrove. More important is that, when a grove is marked by a name, for example “Lilly”, during the first quantification, than
that grove should be quantified on the same name for ever, till the group or grove is within TIST Program.
TIST expects to provide long-term revenue for the Small Group participants through the sale of greenhouse gas credits (GhG), for this sale, we need to get few approvals and validation as well. To get the approvals and validation done in time, we need to be very perfect on website and onsite data; both these data should be comparable. TIST Officials take utmost care to have a perfect data, same way the groups should also show full cooperation.
Usefulness of Mulch
Do not burn your agricultural waste materials, it will increase the carbon content in the atmosphere. Do not throw away your agricultural waste in drainage or canals, it will block the water way and the available little water will
not reach to the needy. Those agriculture wastes can be spread on the land all around the trees, they become good mulch. Mulch reduces evaporation from the soil surface, keeps down weeds, and keeps soil temperatures from becoming too hot or too cold. Mulch also protects sloping ground from soil erosion and reduces soil compaction caused by driving rain on any soil surface. In addition, mulch provides ideal conditions for earthworms and
other soil organisms that are necessary for a healthy soil. When mulches break down they become compost that feeds the soil.
Agriculture waste used as good mulch
# by groups in Mel Kodungalur
To exist as a nation, to prosper as a state, and to live as a people, we must have trees -
Theodore Roosevelt
Health is wealth
During the last week of July, few people in Thiruthani Division were affected by Cholera. Cholera is a disease in which the affected person losses fluid drastically by way of continuous vomiting and diarrhea. The fluid loss may be as high as 1 litre every hour, If not treated immediately, this could lead to fatal end.
How can you avoid infection?
# Only drink boiled water or treated with chlorine oriodine.
= Boil unpasteurized milk before you drink it.
+ Avoid ice cubes in drinks, unless you can be sure they were made from safe water. Ice cream from doubtful sources may also be contaminated.
«Food must be properly prepared and still hot when it is served. If it is allowed to stand at room temperature
for several hours other bacteria such as Escherichia coli may develop.
= Avoid undercooked or raw fish and shellfish.
+ Avoid raw fruit and vegetables, unless you peel it yourself,
» Avoid food and drinks from street vendors.
This advice will protect you, not just against cholera, but also against a whole range of bacteria that can cause unpleasant diarrhea. If you think you have caught cholera you should see a doctor immediately. But do not despair if you are miles away from a hospital or doctor. The most important thing you can do yourself in any case of violent diarrhea is to consume large quantities of fluid with salt and sugar.
1 litre of boiled water.
# 8 level or 4 heaped teaspoons of sugar
» 1/2teaspoon of salt.
# The juice of a lemon or orange.
Continue the above fluid intake and rush to the doctor.
Devindhiran Small Group of Narmapallam
This group is following the best practices of TIST in Nedungal Village at the Narmapallam Center. Due to scarcity of rain and ground water, the members of this group have joined together in TIST as Small Groups fo plant trees. They have four different species of trees like, Mango, Jack, Sapota, Pomegranate and Amla all totaling to 61. The members have given enough spacing between each tree and are practicing few shorttime crops like, groundnut and gram as intercrops. The members have taken good care to the trees by digging the ground all around the trees and have put some naturally fallen dried leaves in it, so that, the available little water get stored around the tree under the dry leaves, which would help the tree during the peak hot time in daylight. Recently, they have started a nursery with few thousand teak seedlings, which would be transplanted during September, rainy season. During the recent quantification on 4th August 2008, this group has got 61 trees and 2,200 teak seedlings.
Prasannavenkadasa Small Group of Kandhavarady
This group is following the best practices of TIST in Thiraikovil Village at the Kandhavarady Center. The members of this group heard about the success story of TIST Program in the neighborhood and came forward to join TIST. The members say that, due to scarcity of rain and ground water, they prefer to plant trees. They have two different groves, namely Sethu and Venkat, in which there are 835 and 460 one year old teak seedlings respectively. Intercropping is also practiced by the members in between their widely spaced trees. The members use the grass
and shrubs of their land effectively for their cattle grazing purpose.During the last quantification on 30th April 2008, this group has got 1,205 teak trees in their two groves. Most of the members of this group attend the Node
meeting regularly with their SGMR note book and consult TIST staff for all their activities in TIST.,
As per TIST advice, several groups are planting longstanding trees, but most males,are planting teak. There are several, good longstanding trees like, Kumil, Geghehsemd, Eman ugha, Gaiby, yall, Gums Redsanders, Silkcotton, Neam, @sirsmud symemomesr Usable fem sme wybissr Tamarind and lot more. Have multiple species of trees in your groves, if not in your field; at least have them plantedaround your home. amb sug BLOGILmITEsT
Expression of Thanks
Mr.A. NV Venkatachalam, IFS, Conservator of Forest, Vellore issued a good certificate (stakeholder letter) for TIST India.
TIST India along with its group members conveys a big thanks to the Conservator
TIST India
TIST India
Mr.S.K.Shanmugasundaram, IFS, Deputy Conservator of Forest, Tiruvannamalai issued a good certificat (stakeholder letter) for TIST India. TIST India along with its group members conveys a big thanks to the Deputy Conservator
TIST India conveys a big thanks to Mr.A.Amarhaja, DFO, CPP Division, Vellore for giving us set of books on Trees
and guiding TIST in Vellore