Reforestation Project in Bodhgaya

The first and biggest school of FOH's partner Alice Project, is located in the town of Bodhgaya, in the Indian State of Bihar. Bodhgaya is also a holy place for Buddhists, as it's there that Gautama is said to have obtained Enlightenment (Bodhimandala).

Because of wild deforestation and greenhouse gases, the climate in Bodhgaya became hotter and drier in the last decades, and the long-term consequences can be potentially destructive for the agriculture, and the life of the inhabitants.

To react to this scary trend, an initiative named Green Bodhgaya is putting in place a project of reforestation, in order to re-establish the preexisting environment in terms of vegetation and rainfall.

Green Bodhgaya is mostly active on the environmental plan, but they also have projects targeting social issues: the program Social Forestry is meant to involve the weakest and most fragile people in Indian society (women, elderly and handicapped people, or the untouchables) in a working system, so that they acquire skills and support themselves.

FOH greets warmly this project meant to improve life conditions in the same area where Valentino Giacomin and his Alice Project work for the welfare of young students.