more on Plant Trees | kham aid home
Planting trees on the Roof of the World
Report on a tree planting project at a Tibetan monastery
Contents of this report
by Rudy van Bruggen, spring, 2002
When I sit down to take a breath and see the first small trees being watered, I feel joy for the potential forest that is growing in front of me. Together with a group of volunteers and Tibetan monks, I am planting trees on the mountain behind a Tibetan monastery, called Dazang, on the Eastern Tibetan Plateau.
Except for the high altitude, the actual work of putting trees into the ground is not very difficult. However, when I look back, I realize the project work started a long time before this day. Shiyin Siou, reforestation program director for Kham Aid Foundation, planted trees with Tibetan people the previous year for the first time. To continue the activities this year he has been fundraising in the US, and brought different people together that could contribute their share.
For me, a student in social forestry writing my thesis on Tibetan people and forestry, this project was a perfect chance to speak with Tibetans about forests. At the same time I can work as tree planting instructor for the enthusiastic American students that came along with Shiyin and me. This was the reason why I traveled for several days to come out here, far away from the urbanized world, to do physical labor on this mountain with a stunning view in all directions.
When we arrived we all were impressed by the old monastery, the friendly welcome by the monks, and the prayer wheels that are placed all the way around the monastery. We all noticed the beautiful natural environment with many different plant and tree species. But the bare mountains and severe erosion on many slopes, where in the past too much tree felling took place, was obvious.
This heavy deforestation is one of the reasons why it is now forbidden to cut trees for commercial purposes in southwest China. For the last few years the forestry bureau has been planting many trees. One of the things the forestry bureau does not do, however, is to put up fences around the planted trees to protect them from cattle grazing. This is important because, traditionally, livestock in Tibetan areas can wander freely and eat and trample young trees.
Another thing is that the planting organized by the forestry bureau is too often being done by workers coming from elsewhere; local people are not given jobs as a tree planters. Therefore it is very helpful when foreign organizations such as Kham Aid Foundation come to work with the Tibetan people and do what the Tibetan people want.
Before we came, the monks had already put up a fence around the planting site. After we arrived, I saw how Tibetan monks and foreign volunteers can work together to recover the forest. We made holes with a pick-axe, gently put the small seedlings in the earth and watered them.
The juniper and pine trees we planted were bought from a tree nursery in town. Although the species are indigenous, we were not completely sure whether the parent trees were growing at the same altitude as we were planting the small ones. When they come from a much lower place there is a chance the trees might get in trouble in the cold winter on this high mountain. This lack of knowledge and experience is one of the signs that the project activities are initiated recently. A lot can be improved on the process of seed collecting, tree nursing, and planting.
This is no surprise, since in the past only large-scale logging took place in this area. Tree planting has only been done since a couple of years, and foreign organizations only allowed in this area since four years ago. We worked hard, but had to rest once in a while, and drank a lot to prevent dehydration.
The monks were very energetic and kept on working. The monk in charge, Tenzin, was willing to take a break so I could interview him. He explained to me about the land use system, and the plants and trees they use. Also he told me that all land is owned by the government, which can decide about land use.
The planted trees have a good chance for survival, because they are planted next to the monastery. People in general have respect for the monastery and will not cut down these trees. For two days we worked and planted several hundreds of trees. On the last day the monks showed us their beautiful temple and in the evening they served us their traditional food, tsampa barley flower, with salty tea and yak butter.
The next morning when we said goodbye to the monks and got on the bus to descend the mountain, we were all sad to leave, but content with our work. Those few days were a positive step in the development of forestry activities with rural Tibetan people. I am happy I could be part of this initiative that aims to stimulate both men and the environment.
Note: a lot of photos of this project are posted here.