←Bridge the Gap — Healthy Cities
Tanuz Kalita
Indigenous Youth Led Habitat Restoration for Climate Resilience in Majuli
Salmora and Karatipar, Majuli · Assam · January to March 2026
Majuli loses land to the Brahmaputra every year. Three thousand native saplings went into the erosion-prone banks, and fifty kilos of weaving thread went to the households that live on them.
3,000
Native saplings planted
January to March 2026
50
Households reached
January to March 2026
50 kg
Indigenous weaving thread distributed
January to March 2026
The work
Hold the bank
Restore the erosion-prone stretches at Salmora and Karatipar with native species — arjuna, simolu, elephant apple — rather than whatever grows fastest.
Train the people who stay
Indigenous youth learn the restoration work and the weaving both, because a livelihood is what makes anyone stay to water a sapling.
Agroforestry that pays something
Trees a household earns from are trees that are still alive in year two. That is the whole argument for putting thread and saplings in the same project.
- Mobilised communities across several Majuli villages and picked the planting sites with them
- Planted 3,000 native saplings — arjuna, simolu and elephant apple
- Distributed 50 kg of indigenous weaving thread to participating households
- Ran youth training in ecological restoration and in weaving — thirty to forty young implementers, alongside ten to fifteen local experts
- Held plantation drives and awareness sessions in the riverside villages
- Rigbo Trust
- Sustainable Development Foundation
- Assam State Rural Livelihoods Mission
- Assam State Disaster Management Authority
What people said
Manisha Payeng
“With the threads we received, we can continue our weaving and earn more from it. It helps us support our families while keeping our traditional designs and skills alive.”
Salmora resident · Majuli
Banajit Doley
“These saplings will help protect our land from erosion. We have seen how the river takes away our soil every year, and planting these native trees gives us some hope for the future.”
Karatipar resident · Majuli
A volunteer in Karatipar, Majuli
“This work is important for our community. The saplings will help reduce erosion in Majuli, and at the same time, weaving support is giving our youth and women a way to earn while keeping our traditions alive.”
The rest of the cohort
-
Bharuch · Gujarat
Anjali Choudhary
Maati Maange More
-
Mahuva, Dabhoi and Viramgam · Gujarat
Mansi Thakar Jani
Varso Jal Sanchay Initiative
-
Jabrella, Bharsaua and two further campuses · Uttar Pradesh
Palak Bajpai
Miyawaki Plantation Project
-
Chinthamani, Chikaballapura district · Karnataka
S Vineeth Kumar
Paradox Bio-Energy
-
Peth, Bubnal, Mangle and Kuslewadi, Sangli district · Maharashtra
Shubham Dipak Gurav
Climate Resilient Agriculture Initiative, Integrating Agroforestry and Natural Farming
-
Jhala, Harsil Valley and Saini, Dunda block, Uttarkashi · Uttarakhand
Shubham Panwar
Women-Led Sustainable Mushroom Cultivation for Nutrition and Livelihood in Rural Uttarkashi
-
Bilaspur · Chhattisgarh
Swapnil Chaurasiya
Behavioural Nudges for Urban Climate Action: A Student-Led Solid Waste Management Model for Bilaspur City
-
Delhi
Taniya Gill
Rooted in Our Land: A Visual Toolkit on Native Plants and Climate Adaptation
-
Moradabad · Uttar Pradesh
Tawheed Zubair
ECONOVA (For Nature, For People)