Natural History Wanderings

The Punjab reported

Where wind once scraped over bare, cracked soil, there’s now a low, continuous whisper of leaves rubbing against each other. The air feels heavier, cooler, like someone turned down the brightness on a harsh world. Men and women walk along a dusty track flanked by young trunks, some no thicker than a wrist, others already casting generous shade. A boy in a faded football shirt stretches out his hand and touches a leaf, almost like he’s checking it’s real.

Twenty-five years ago, this entire valley was a burnt, eroded scar. Nothing grew higher than your knees. Livestock kicked up grey dust. People moved away because the land could no longer feed them. Today, those same hills are a surprising patchwork of green. Small forests stitched together by human stubbornness and patient work.

Read more about story ar Londonam https://www.londonsam.org.uk/after-25-years-of-reforestation-once-barren-landscapes-are-now-absorbing-millions-of-tons-of-co-annually/https://www.londonsam.org.uk/after-25-years-of-reforestation-once-barren-landscapes-are-now-absorbing-millions-of-tons-of-co-annually/