Chipko-model tree-hugging event in Kerala, all set to create a world record

In what could be a symbolic reenactment of the famous Chipko movement, more than 2,000 people would assemble and hug trees in the sprawling campus of Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanical Garden of India (JNTBGRI), on 21 March, the International Day of Forests, declaring their resolve to protect the remaining patches of green. Besides stressing the need for the protection of forests and trees, the event, titled 'Ente Maram, Ente Jeevan' (My tree, My life), aims at setting a new Guinness World Record for the maximum people embracing trees simultaneously. 

Governor Justice P Sathasivam will inaugurate the event organised by Asianet News. Addressing participants at the state camp of Students Police Camp on Sunday, the Governor lauded the "Ente Maram, Ente Jeevan" programme as a unique attempt to create awareness for the protection of the environment. "It is a call for standing together and do something to protect trees, environment and forests," Sathasivam said. He also urged everybody to participate in the event. 
 

 
More than 2,000 people, including students, representatives of women self-help groups, scientists and people's representatives, will hug a thousand trees in 15-acres of the bio-diversity rich garden of the TBGRI. The participants will also take a pledge to protect trees and forests. Each participant would be presented saplings as a token gift.  

The 'Ente Maram, Ente Jeevan' event takes inspiration from the 'Chipko Movement' of the 1970s in which tribal women of Himalayan villages embraced trees and stood guard to resist the logging mafia from clearing the forests. It created history and spread across the country wherever the local people protested the mindless destruction of forests in the name of development. 

Representatives of Guinness Book of World Records will monitor the event. Students of Al Iqbal College, Peringamala will welcome the participants and guide them to designated plots in the garden. "We are very excited. Our small village would be known around the world for this event," one of the students of the college said. 

• Ente Maram Ente Jeevan
• Tree-hugging
• International Day of Forests
• Guinness Book of World Record
• Kerala news