Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA), in collaboration with Dhare Foundation, has launched an ambitious environmental mission to plant five crore saplings across Karnataka, combining afforestation with large-scale ecological restoration and lake rejuvenation during next three to four years.

Of the five crore saplings, two crore saplings would be planted within a 50-km radius of Vidhana Soudha under the flagship “Bengaluru-Green Ring” initiative in three zones, said H. Shashidhara Shetty, KSLSA’s member-secretary, here on Friday.

Among the three zones, 20 lakh saplings would be planted in the urban core zone situated within 10 km from Vidhana Soudha, 80 lakh in peri-urban belt situated between 10 km and 30 km, and one crore saplings in rural-forest zone, situated between 30 km and 50 areas, with a special focus on restoring biodiversity and combating pollution in and around Bengaluru, he said.

Mr. Shetty said that while KSLSA would act as a facilitator to identify the government lands and to coordinate with the State Forest Department for arranging saplings, the Foundation would take care of financing for the project through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds from the corporate companies and to deploy volunteers for plantation, monitoring and preservation of planted saplings. The KSLSA has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Foundation in this regard.

The remaining three crore saplings would be planted across other districts on government lands, lake buffer zones, institutional campuses, degraded land, and along road corridors.

Scientific models

The project would adopt scientific plantation models including the Miyawaki method, agro-forestry, and avenue plantations based on geographical suitability and the project is designed not as a routine tree-planting exercise, but as a long-term ecological restoration programme aimed at improving biodiversity, groundwater recharge, climate resilience, and urban cooling, said Mr. Shetty.

In addition, the project includes rejuvenation of Karnataka’s 45,000 lakes through desilting, feeder channel restoration, and plantation around water bodies to strengthen groundwater reserves and aquatic ecosystems.