Climate change, depletion of groundwater, loss of biodiversity is the major concerns for India. Unless we act fast, it has the potential to cause damage to the life and the planet. World Environment day celebrated on 5 June encourages global awareness and action towards protecting our environment.

It is not important to do something big but every single step makes a difference even if it is a smaller one; such an initiative is taken in Chennai by Abdul Ghani, the green man of India for conserving the environment. 

Tree ambulance service is the brainchild of Abdul Ghani and the project was sponsored by SASA group.  Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu showed a green flag to it on the Day of International Biological Diversity.  

On the occasion of World Environment Day, tree ambulance in Chennai is helping spread environmental awareness by catering to uprooted trees and offering other related services.

The tree ambulance aims at offering services like planting trees that have been uprooted, and offer other facilities such as a seed bank, distribution of plants, and helping citizens in tree plantation drives. It also shifts trees from one location to another and conducts surveys of trees. The ambulance offers the service of removing dead trees also.

The ambulance has helpers and a plant expert, who carry gardening tools, water, manure, and pesticide with them.

The founder of the tree ambulance service, Abdul Ghani, said, “The idea of a tree ambulance is to save trees by caring for sick ones and helping bring back uprooted trees and protect the trees. By 2020, our aim is to have one tree ambulance for all the districts in India”, as per local media.

The president of the initiative, Suresh, said, “Cyclone Vardah (2016) and Gaja (2018) uprooted hundreds of trees in Tamil Nadu and I personally have witnessed the 2015 Chennai flood. Hence, I supported Abdul Ghani for his idea to create a tree ambulance in Chennai. In the whole country, our tree ambulance is the first one which has a hydraulic machine for lifting big trees which will be delivered in a month.”

This tree ambulance service was flagged off by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on May 22. During the event, the Vice President said that out of the box solutions such as this, coupled with community participation, can go a long way in conserving and increasing the country’s green cover.

  Chennai, Tamil Nadu, trees, world environment day