The Great People’s Forest of the Eastern Himalayas, one of the largest reforestation and conservation efforts in the history of South Asia, is a partnership between Conservation International and the Balipara Foundation of Assam, India. By 2030, this initiative will seek to plant 1 billion trees and restore and protect 1 million hectares of land across the Eastern Himalayas, from the mountains to the mangroves, indirectly benefiting around 1 billion people who depend on this connected ecosystem.

The initiative aims to raise US $1 billion dollars to support this work from public, private, and philanthropic sources.

The Eastern Himalayan region spans the mountains, valleys, plains and delta of North East India, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. It is a massive single connected ecosystem, with its two major rivers - The Ganges and Brahmaputra - fed by the glaciers of the world’s tallest mountains. These rivers meet to form the world’s greatest delta in Bangladesh, which is in turn guarded by the world’s largest mangrove forest in the Sundarbans. It is a region of staggering ecological significance, representing over one-twelfth of all biodiversity on the planet, including two biodiversity hotspots.

It is also a region of vital significance to humanity, home to some of the most densely populated areas on earth with one billion people relying directly on its land and water for their livelihoods and survival. Despite this, the region’s status as an environmental and societal asset of global importance has not been matched by awareness of its significance, nor investment in its protection and restoration, with devastating results. Every year 100,000 hectares of green cover are lost. Just last year, 1.5 million people in the region were displaced by extreme weather events.

A third of the glaciers of The Eastern Himalayas could be lost as a result of climate change, with devastating consequences for those living and relying on the rivers below them. The Great People’s Forest is an urgent response to the shared challenges of climate change and nature loss, through which local conservationists are joining together to urgently scale their work to protect and restore their land and forests for the benefit of people and the planet.

Together we will:

• Raise a US $1 billion fund to deliver this historic reforestation and conservation initiative for the benefit of 1 billion people relying on this region
• Support communities to plant 1 billion trees from the mountains to the mangroves
• Protect and restore 1 million hectares while also prioritising the livelihoods and economic and social ambitions of communities across the region