Teenager who Planted a Forest

November 5, 2025

Discover how a teenager planted a forest and saved wildlife.

In 1979, 16-year-old Jadav Payeng from Assam, India, saw dozens of snakes lying dead on a dry sandbar along the Brahmaputra River. They had washed ashore during floods and died from the heat. That image haunted him.

He went to local officials, asking them to plant trees. They said it was impossible. So he started planting them himself.

Day after day, he carried seedlings, water, and compost on his back. People mocked him. “You’ll plant a forest with your hands?” He didn’t stop.

By 2015, Jadav had planted and nurtured a 1,360-acre forest — larger than New York’s Central Park. It’s now home to Bengal tigers, elephants, deer, birds, and more. Scientists were stunned. It has its own ecosystem. Locals call it Molai Forest, after Jadav’s nickname.

He still lives in a small hut inside the forest, surrounded by the trees he planted. When asked why he kept going, he said, “The Earth gives us everything. We owe it something back.”

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