Importance of Planting Trees: Why Plantation Matters Today

Every school has photographs of a plantation drive. Children in a line, saplings in hand, a headline the next morning. Six months later, nobody can say how many of those saplings are still alive. The importance of planting is real, but it is decided by what happens after the photograph, not during it.

This guide covers why planting matters, what India’s own forest data shows, how a plantation drive should be run so the trees survive, and what students can realistically do. It is written for parents, teachers and students who want the substance behind the slogan.

On This Page

• Why is planting important?
• What plantation actually means
• The importance of planting trees: ten benefits
• Where India stands on forest cover
• Importance of plantation in schools
• How to run a plantation drive that survives
• Common mistakes in plantation drives
• What students can do
• Frequently asked questions

Why Is Planting Important?

Planting is important because trees do several jobs at once that no built solution does as cheaply. A tree absorbs carbon dioxide, releases oxygen, cools the air around it, holds soil in place, helps rainwater soak into the ground instead of running off, and gives shelter and food to birds and insects. One planted tree is a small contribution. A planted and surviving canopy changes a neighbourhood.

The word “surviving” carries the weight. A sapling that dies in April has absorbed almost nothing and returned almost nothing.

What Plantation Actually Means

The terms get used loosely, so it helps to separate them.

Term	Meaning
Planting	Putting a sapling into the ground, at any scale
Plantation drive	An organised event where many saplings are planted together
Afforestation	Creating forest on land that had none for a long time
Reforestation	Replanting forest on land that was recently cleared
Agroforestry	Growing trees alongside crops or livestock on farmland

In India, “plantation” in a school or community context almost always means a plantation drive. In agriculture it can also mean an estate crop such as tea or coffee. This article uses the first sense.

The Importance of Planting Trees: Ten Benefits

Environmental

1. Carbon absorption. Trees take carbon dioxide out of the air and store it as wood. Forests are the largest land-based carbon store available.
2. Oxygen release. Photosynthesis returns oxygen to the atmosphere as a by-product.
3. Cooling. Shade plus transpiration can drop the temperature under a canopy noticeably, which matters in Indian cities during summer.
4. Groundwater recharge. Roots and leaf litter slow rainwater so it soaks in rather than running off into drains.
5. Soil protection. Root systems hold soil against wind and monsoon erosion, and leaf fall rebuilds it.

Health and Living Conditions

6. Cleaner air. Leaves trap dust and particulate matter, which is a direct benefit in traffic-heavy areas.
7. Noise reduction. Dense planting along a road cuts some of the sound reaching homes behind it.
8. Wellbeing. Access to green space is consistently linked with lower stress and more outdoor activity.

Economic and Social

9. Food, fodder and timber. Fruit trees, fodder species and farm forestry all produce income or reduce household spending.
10. Habitat. A single mature native tree can support dozens of bird and insect species, which in turn pollinate crops and control pests.

The environmental benefits get the attention, but for most Indian households the cooling and the fruit are the ones felt directly.

Where India Stands on Forest Cover

Numbers give this some grounding. According to the India State of Forest Report 2023, released by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, India’s total forest and tree cover is 8,27,357 square kilometres, which is 25.17 per cent of the country’s geographical area. Of that, forest cover accounts for 21.76 per cent and tree cover for 3.41 per cent.

That is an increase of 1,445 square kilometres since the 2021 assessment. Most of the gain came from tree cover outside recorded forest areas, which is to say from farms, roadsides, campuses and homes rather than from forests.

Two points follow.

First, the National Forest Policy of 1988 set a target of one-third of the country’s land area under forest or tree cover. At 25.17 per cent, the gap is still wide.

Second, the growth is coming from trees outside forests. That is exactly the category a school campus, a housing society or a farm boundary contributes to. Planting outside forest land is not a token gesture; it is where the measured increase is actually happening.

Importance of Plantation in Schools

Schools plant trees for reasons that go past the greenery.

• Direct experience. A child who digs a pit, plants a sapling and waters it for two years understands growth in a way a chapter cannot deliver.
• Long-term responsibility. Most school tasks end the same week. A tree does not, which makes it one of the few genuinely long commitments a student takes on.
• Campus benefit. Shade over a playground changes how usable it is between March and May.
• Science in context. Photosynthesis, transpiration, soil, and the water cycle all become observable rather than theoretical.
• Community link. Drives involving parents and neighbourhoods extend the effect beyond the gate.

The value depends entirely on whether the school treats the drive as an event or as a two-year commitment.

How to Run a Plantation Drive That Survives

Survival rates for casual plantation drives are often poor. These steps change that.

1. Plant at the start of the monsoon. In Karnataka, June and July give a sapling several months of free water before it faces a dry season. Planting in March is close to pointless.
2. Choose native species. Honge, neem, jamun, mango, banyan, peepal and tamarind are suited to local soil and rainfall, and support local birds. Fast-growing exotics often need more water and support less wildlife.
3. Match the species to the site. Large canopy trees need distance from buildings, drains and overhead cables. Compact fruit trees suit smaller spaces.
4. Dig a proper pit. A pit roughly two feet across and two feet deep, refilled with loosened soil and compost, gives roots somewhere to go.
5. Protect the sapling. A tree guard or a simple bamboo cage prevents damage from cattle, goats and stray footballs. This one step accounts for a large share of survival.
6. Water through the first two dry seasons. A sapling needs help until its roots reach deeper moisture. Two summers is the usual requirement.
7. Assign responsibility by name. “The Green Club will look after it” fails. “Class 6B, section leader, this row” works.
8. Count survivors after twelve months. The number that matters is not how many were planted but how many are alive a year later.

Common Mistakes in Plantation Drives

Treating the event as the goal. Planting is the cheapest part of the process. Aftercare is the expensive part, and it is what is usually skipped.

Planting too many, too close. A hundred saplings crowded into a small plot compete and most die. Twenty well-spaced trees do more.

Choosing decorative exotics. Species picked for appearance often need constant watering and give little back to local birds and insects.

Ignoring the ground. Compacted soil, waterlogged corners and construction debris will defeat a healthy sapling.

No record. Without a simple list of what was planted, where, and who is responsible, nobody can check anything a year on.

What Students Can Do

• Plant one tree at home and take responsibility for it yourself rather than delegating it to a parent.
• Keep a growth record with monthly height measurements. It turns the tree into a small science project.
• Water existing trees near your home through summer. An established tree in distress is worth more than a new sapling.
• Learn to identify ten native trees in your area. Recognition is what turns a green blur into individual living things.
• Ask your school for the survival figure from the last drive. It is a fair question, and it changes how the next one is run.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is planting important?

Planting is important because trees absorb carbon dioxide, release oxygen, cool their surroundings, hold soil in place, help rainwater recharge groundwater, and provide habitat for birds and insects. Together these functions support both the climate and daily living conditions.

What is the importance of plantation?

A plantation drive increases tree cover where it is missing, in cities, on campuses, along roads and on farm boundaries. In India this category, trees outside recorded forests, is where most recent growth in tree cover has come from.

What is the importance of planting trees in daily life?

Trees provide shade that lowers temperatures around homes and streets, trap dust from traffic, reduce noise, supply fruit and fodder, and make outdoor spaces usable in summer. The effects are local and immediate, not only global and distant.

How much of India is under forest and tree cover?

According to the India State of Forest Report 2023, forest and tree cover together account for 25.17 per cent of India’s geographical area. The National Forest Policy target is one-third.

When is the best time to plant a sapling in India?

The beginning of the monsoon, usually June or July in most of the country. This gives the sapling several months of natural watering before it has to survive a dry season.

Which trees are best to plant in Karnataka?

Native species such as honge, neem, jamun, mango, tamarind, banyan and peepal are well suited to local conditions and support local birds and insects. Choose smaller species where space near buildings is limited.

How long does a new sapling need watering?

Usually through the first two dry seasons, until roots reach deeper soil moisture. Protection from cattle and damage matters just as much as water during this period.

What is the difference between afforestation and reforestation?

Afforestation creates forest on land that has not had forest for a long time. Reforestation replants forest on land that was recently cleared. A plantation drive can contribute to either, or to neither if it is on a campus or roadside.

Quick Recap

• Trees deliver carbon absorption, cooling, groundwater recharge, soil protection and habitat at the same time.
• India’s forest and tree cover is 25.17 per cent, still short of the one-third policy target.
• Recent gains come mostly from trees outside forests, which is where schools and households contribute.
• Plant at the start of the monsoon, choose native species, guard the sapling and water it for two dry seasons.
• The honest measure of a plantation drive is the survival count after twelve months, not the number planted.

Planting works best when it is treated as a responsibility students carry rather than an event they attend, and that is how we prefer to frame environmental work at TISM: fewer saplings, named responsibility, and a count the following year. The same thinking runs through our approach in the Cambridge curriculum for primary and early years and into the IGCSE years.

If you are interested in how we approach other subjects, our guide to the importance of mathematics covers the same practical thinking applied to number work.

Parents comparing schools can start with our guides to the best schools in Mysore and to Cambridge vs CBSE.

Want to see the campus and its trees? Contact TISM Mysore to arrange a visit.

Further Reading

• India State of Forest Report 2023, Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
• Cambridge Primary programme, Cambridge Assessment International Education

About the Author

This guide was prepared by the environmental education team at The International School Mysore (TISM), a Cambridge curriculum school in Mysuru teaching children from early years through IGCSE. It reflects what we have learned running campus plantation work with students, including the drives that did not survive their first summer.