Meet the Nainital resident Chandan Nayal who has given up a full-time job to dedicate his life to protecting the forests of Uttarakhand.

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Hailing from the Nai village, Nayal quit his lecturer job in 2016 and returned home to plant thousands of trees to revive the forests of the region.

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As a teenager, Nayal participated in nature conservation activities like planting trees and understanding the ecology of the area.

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Recalling what inspired him, he shares, “I have seen nature getting destroyed since childhood. I remember running with the villagers to extinguish forest fires in pine trees.”

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But an incident in 2010 changed the course of his life. Nayal lost his mother due to a prolonged illness.

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“While grieving, I often left for the mountains and forest areas to find peace. The time spent under the shade of trees brought me closer to my purpose,” he says.

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Driven by his conviction, in 2016, he quit his job and decided to dedicate his time to increasing forest area in the region.

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Through his journey, Chandan met environmentalists like Sundarlal Bahuguna, Anil Joshi, Sacchidanand Bharati, Jagat Singh Chaudhary, Kalyan Singh and other experts to seek guidance.

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“I realised there was a need for mixed and diverse forests, and planting one species of trees won’t work,” he notes.

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“So I took up deodar and oak trees as well to plant in schools, empty spaces, and private individual land with due permissions,” he adds.

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In the past decade, Nayal has planted over 60,000 trees and distributed 83,000 plants to people.

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Furthermore, he built small check dams and used rainwater harvesting to restore depleted water sources, trees, and forests.

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For this, Nayal was honoured with the prestigious ‘Water Hero Award’ by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India, on 23 July, 2021.

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He has inspired other neighbouring villages like Almoda, Kujeti, Supi, Chakuta, and Aghariya to plant trees. When Nayal is not busy planting trees and checking their health, he is visiting the schools of Uttarakhand and imparting environmental lessons to students.

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“We are planting trees but, more importantly, we need to protect the existing forests. As humans, we are heavily dependent on nature, and people should realise that,” he remarks

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Today, popularly known as 'Son of the Mountains', Nayal is something of a hero in the region for the revolution he is bringing about. 

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