It is not a secluded place on earth. Anywhere the garden can be created with any seed or a tiny twig. Can there be a livelihood choice associated with it? Probably. But the awareness lies with the people who do not need livelihoods. So the ‘give n take’ relationship is not working out itself. The needs have to be mapped to the urgency.
An innovative business model requires per unit contribution of different kind from different stakeholders. However, what happens to people with pure love for greenery? Going from housing premises to the community requires investment to be going green in a meaningful way.
For me,travelling from the city to Uttrakhand required 3 days time and at least Rs. 10,000 per trip. Uttrakhand is the nearest destination requiring attention. Therefore I tried to forge 4 partnerships and also tried remote helping hand at many places more. The idea was to take the next step; a tiny step each time. The problem was the measure of the tiny step is subjective with regard to perception of each one. It hardly converges. this very fact could have wasted the entire amount, even if the elusive Rs. 10,000 could be arranged per trip.
My dream was to have people engaged with a monthly honorarium to protect the plantation. May be it could be a self help group rather than an individual. But unless there is a stake from the community, it will be wastage of money.
How to create stake? Demonstrations may be the next idea. That is where efforts are on.