Collector of Barwani Shivraj Singh has shared his innovative ideas implemented in the district in the fields of biodiversity, lands degradation and climate change, in a workshop organised by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF & CC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

The regional inception workshop aiming to enable communities and organisations to take collective action for socio-ecological resilience and sustainable livelihoods for the local and global environmental benefits in three landscapes (biodiversity, lands degradation and climate change), was held on Thursday in Bhopal of Madhya Pradesh, where many officials of the MoEF & CC, the state government, UNDP and the TERI participated virtually and physically.

The collector of Barwani, Singh has developed a 33-acre barren hill with public participation as a 'city forest' namely 'Shiv Kunj' keeping in mind sustainable development goals. The hill is a part of the Satpura range. Around 30 thousand saplings have been planted on the hill, interestingly all plants are alive.

Addressing the workshop virtually, Collector Singh said that public the movement towards protecting the environment can save the earth and its biodiversity from the threats of climate change, the plantation is a powerful weapon to win this battle.

Now, the unusable hill has become a retreat destination for the public, where people are enjoying amenities such as a 'city forest', a community fitness spot, a cultural event place, a children's park a yoga and meditation centre for spiritual wellness. It has also become a tourist destination. Apart from this, three other hills have also been developed as an example of keeping biodiversity and protecting land degradation.

So far, around 1 lakh saplings have been planted on the hills with the public contribution. The watering of the plants is being done with the drip system and grey water is used for it.

At the event, Ruchi Pant and Srinivasan Iyer both from UNDP in India, and RR Rashmi from the TERI also addressed the workshop. The GEF small grants programme -a non-governmental organisation was the key partner of the event.