https://www.nytimes.com/card/2025/09/02/headway/trees-india-vijayapura
"Vijayapura is easy to miss in the vastness of the Indian subcontinent.
But this historic district in India’s southern state of Karnataka is a proof of
concept for the state government’s multi-million dollar effort to address
severe droughts and extreme heat.
Over the last decade, Vijayapura has planted and sustained more than 15 million
trees, transforming the region from arid to green.
The planting of these forests coincided with the replenishment of centuries-old
water tanks and lakes. Canals and elevated ducts were constructed to divert
river water, which improved ground-water levels and the availability of a
fundamental resource: drinking water.
Forests now extend from Vijayapura’s northern tip to its rural outskirts in the
south.
Vijayapura’s district administration credits the tree cover with cooling
temperatures in the area by at least 0.6 degrees Celsius (about 1 degree
Fahrenheit) from 2017 to 2023, according to state government data.
Endangered black bucks, leopards, snakes and several species of birds have
become a common sight.
The project began in the summer of 2016, when Karnataka’s overall forest cover
was about 20 percent. M.B. Patil, the Karnataka state water resources minister
at the time, learned from a forest official that Vijayapura had a forest cover
of only 0.17 percent.
“I thought he made a mistake,” Mr. Patil said in an interview. “That day, I
thought we should do something about it.”"
Via
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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-new-york-rent-freeze-housing-crisis/>
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*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
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https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
