Himalaya has pledged to conserve biodiversity through several initiatives like cultivating herbs, implementing sustainable collection, and using sustainable plant parts. A major focus area is the tree-planting drives conducted annually to restore biodiversity, engage local communities, and preserve the environment.

We started the tree-planting initiative more than a decade ago and have planted over 800,000 trees across India. We have partnered with NGOs and universities, including Centurion University in Odisha and Bangalore University in Bengaluru, India.

There are 36 "biodiversity hotspots," worldwide, and four are in India. Our project was initiated in the biodiversity-rich forests of the Western Ghats which houses more than 1,500 endemic species of flowering plants and at least 500 unique species of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. In association with the Society for Environment and Biodiversity Conservation (SEBC), we have planted 750,000 trees in the Western Ghats, including rare, endangered, and threatened species like Garcinia Indica, Saraca Asoca, Aegle Marmelos, Callophyllum Inophylum, Canarium Strictum, Cinnamomum Zeylanicum, Commiphora Wightii, Mallotus Philippines, Nothopodytis Nimmonii, Pterocarpus Santulinus, and Santalum Album.

Other locations where we have planted trees include Paralakhemundi in Odisha, the Ri-Bhoi district in the North Khasi Hills in Meghalaya, and Bengaluru. We have partnered with WeForest in the North Khasi Hills and planted 60,000 trees; with SayTrees, we planted 10,000 saplings of 11 plant species in the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka. Tree planting helps bring back the lost flora and fauna and set up ecological balance. The landscape attracts bees, birds, and butterflies, and helps improve soil moisture over time.

We also engage extensively with local communities from these areas. Over 600 farmers from 70 villages have participated in our drives. Saplings of fruit and vegetable bearing, fodder-providing, and nitrogen-fixing trees are planted in the rural communities. This gives the local community complete autonomy of the plants, and they use the produce for economic upliftment or personal consumption.

The state of Maharashtra recognized our tree-planting initiative with the prestigious “Vanashree Award” in 2017, for our efforts in environment conservation. Himalaya has developed an in-house app to monitor the growth and survival of the saplings. We will continue the tree-planting initiative in other areas in the future.