Sixteen-year-old Sahil Jha is on a mission to save soil for the future generations. A native of Kolkata, Sahil started his journey on May 1 on his bicycle. He will travel 25,000 km through various States in one-and-a-half years to convey the message of protecting the soil.
Sahil says the journey was motivated by a strong desire to spend his life doing something meaningful. The bicycle mission is to promote the Save Soil movement, which is supported by international agencies such as the United Nations.
During the trip, awareness programmes are organised in schools and colleges, and meetings are held with influential people and representatives of society to bring public attention to the issue.
He has met Governor Mohammed Arif Khan, Agriculture Minister P. Prasad, Shashi Tharoor, MP, and Mr. Sujith Vijayan Pillai, MLA, during his trip. Sahil was in Thrissur for two days where he also met Mayor M.K .Varghese. He will now travel to Palakkad from Thrissur.
According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), over 90% of the earth’s soil could become degraded by 2050, leading to catastrophic crisis worldwide, including food and water shortages, droughts and famines, adverse climate changes, mass migrations and unprecedented rates of species extinction, says Sahil.
This ‘soil extinction’ is a grave threat to the humanity now as our planet is losing the ability to grow food because of rapid soil degradation, he points out.
The Save Soil Movement seeks to galvanise citizen support across nations and empower governments to initiate policy-driven action to revitalise soil and halt further degradation. The movement aims to reach out to 3.5 billion people.
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