Shyam Sunder Jyani

Shyam Sunder Jyani (born 1979^[1]) is an Indian environmentalist and academic, best known for afforestation efforts in the Indian state of Rajasthan. He is presently an associate professor of sociology at Dungar College, Bikaner.^[2]

Jyani originated from a rural farming family in the village of 12 TK, Sri Ganganagar district.^[3][4] His involvement in environmental activities began in 2003, when he and some students revived a number of dying neem trees within Dungar College's campus.^[5][6][7] Afterwards, he began campaigning door-to-door for tree planting in Bikaner,^[6] and in 2006, he formulated the idea of "Familial Forestry", which involves local families by encouraging them to plant fruit trees at their homes as a "green member". The idea was launched at the village of Himtasar, where 120 households were part of the pilot project. The choice of fruit trees allowed the anti-desertification campaign to serve an additional purpose of improving the local villagers' nutrition.^[8][9] According to Jyani, educating the families on the benefits and the after-planting care of the trees increased the saplings' survival rate from 20–30% to 90%.^[9]

In order to further extend the campaign's reach, he incorporated the activity of tree planting in activities like Diwali.^[4] A website has also been released to increase awareness of the afforestation drive and its benefits.^[8] On Gandhi's 150th birthday in 2019, he enrolled 150 schools in Rajasthan and their students in a tree-planting drive.^[10][11] His efforts have seen planting of more than 2.5 million saplings in north-western Rajasthan by 1 million families across 15,000 villages by 2021,^[12] with the greenery being visible from satellite imagery as a "green wall" at the margins of the Thar Desert.^[11] By 2023, 3.8 million saplings had been planted.^[7] Most of the plants and necessary irrigation tanks were purchased on his own expense.^[3][10] In a 2021 interview with Deutsche Welle, he has also stated plans to expand tree-planting efforts to major cities.^[13]

In 2023, the International Year of Millets, Jyani began to promote the use of millets, especially in traditional rituals such as marriage ceremonies and religious fairs.^[14] He also orchestrated an inaugural "Raabri Day" on 23 May 2023, with Raabri being a millet-based drink.^[15][16]

Jyani has led plantation of 4 million saplings by engaging over 2 million families from 18,000 villages mainly in Rajasthan and some from other neighbouring states and developed 200 Institutional forests by December 2024.^[17]

Under his leadership a network of public nurseries, has been established that provide every year 200,000 saplings of native species free of cost to the local communities.^[18]

In 2022, Jyani led the restoration of Dabla Talab, a 207-acre area of degraded land. Through community-driven habitat healing, the project transformed the barren land into a thriving ecosystem, demonstrating the effectiveness of collective environmental stewardship.^[19][20]

In recognition of his work, he was awarded the Indira Gandhi National Service Scheme Award in 2012,^[5][10] and later the Land for Life Award from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in 2021.^[3]

In recognition of his global impact, Professor Jyani was invited as a special guest to the 15th and 16th Conferences of the Parties (COP-15 and COP-16) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), where he showcased his expertise in sustainable land management.^[21][22]