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Jeeth Milan Roche, better known as the Tree man of Mangalore has planted over 2,00,000 sapling in and around Mangalore since 2004. In 2023 Jeeth stopped the illegal felling of 5.78 acres of densely forested government land, an act which gave birth to the Kanthavara Forest Conservation initiative. For more details on the Fight for Kanthavara Forest, scroll below. Jeeth is a member of Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) & Bamboo Society of India (BSI)

In Jan 2022 Sankhe Charitable Trust took possession of a 15acre rubber plantation in Kanthavara. There were 2,000 rubber trees and nothing else. No other native plants, trees, birds or animals, just silence. It was decided at the onset to avoid all synthetic chemicals, heavy machinery and to simultaneously 'rewild' the plantation

Life went on normally, until May 2023 when we heard chainsaws just outside our boundary. To our surprise we found men cutting down trees in this thickly forested piece of Government owned land. 

Site staff quickly informed Jeeth and Bhuvan who got the forest department to visit the spot and stop the felling. That day even though 5 massive trees were cut, the rest of the 5.78 acres of parcel of pristine public forest was saved. This forest is home to 200 of rare species of woody creepers called Lianas, birds and animals including leopards

Our success in preventing the illegal destruction of the forest that day gives us immense pride and joy. It was the day on which something inside us changed. We realized that saying "whats it got to do with me?" was not an option. On this day the non-descript rubber plantation was re-born as Kanthavara Forest Basecamp, (see visitors gallery) dedicated to three objectives:

1. To learn more about our forests
2. To create an awareness program to share these findings
3. To create a cadre to monitor our forests (Article 51ag of the Constitution)

Immediately after the illegal tree felling incident on the border Jeeth started to call the spot the Broken Forest.  Within the next 2 months Jeeth and team stopped 11 more illegal tree fellings in the area. Soon we realised that while most people agreed that trees and forests were important, they had no clue how much forest we still had left and what could be done to stop illegal forest destruction.

So we created the Broken Forest Tour to fill this knowledge gap. We summarized all that we had learnt from experts such as supreme court lawyers, government agencies like the FRI and FSI (Forest Survey of India), Wildlife Institute of India, the National Green Tribunal, the Karnataka Forest department and others such as BNHS and CAT. We distilled all this information into just 3 fundamental questions which engage the Tour participants

1. What is a forest?
2. What is the state of India’s forests?
3. How many saplings are needed to replace a fallen tree?

The Broken Forest Tour is a full day package, participants arrive at the Basecamp enjoy a meal and then start the Tour. After a round of introductions participants are invited to explain what a forest means to them or what constitutes a forest. It's not very difficult to arrive at a consensus as to what constitutes a forest.

Which leads the group to the next question - What is the state of India’s forest? Participants try to guess the percentage of India's land mass that is still covered by pristine forests. What's your guess 5% 15% 25% 50%? The Tour presents our findings gleaned from the ISFR India State of the Forest Report ISFR 2023 which shocks most people to their core when they hear it for the first time

The Broken Forest Tour is a full day package, participants arrive at the Basecamp enjoy a meal and then start the Tour. After a round of introductions participants are invited to explain what a forest means to them or what constitutes a forest. It's not very difficult to arrive at a consensus as to what constitutes a forest.

Which leads the group to the next question - What is the state of India’s forest? Participants try to guess the percentage of India's land mass that is still covered by pristine forests. What's your guess 5% 15% 25% 50%? The Tour presents our findings gleaned from the ISFR India State of the Forest Report ISFR 2023 which shocks most people to their core when they hear it for the first time

With this basic information under their belt, the group then walks to the Broken forest, the exact same place where this entire story started, the exact spot where the 5 illegally felled trees lie even today. Participants sit on these fallen trees and ponder the very troubling findings. The area is now a memorial which thousands of students and visitors have already visited. Many get to see for the first time what a fallen tree feels like to touch, to hold, to sit on and how majestic it would have been while it was still standing. Standing at the broken forest, destruction jumps out of a picture or a tv screen where we usually see it and pierces our eyes and hearts. Standing next to those illegally felled trees is like standing at a crime scene. No one leaves untouched, no one leaves the same.

The walking tour adopts critical thinking pedagogy (Article 51ah of constitution) where participants are presented with questions rather than answers. Answers - they work out on their own, drawing on their own innate love for nature and helped along with scientific data that is presented to them at each step. The sight of the broken forest moves many deeply. As participants slowly begin to move to the next spot they carry with them 2 unforgettable lessons a) the shockingly small amount of pristine forests remaining today and b) that 'business as usual' means the destruction of the very biophysical foundations that our modern civilisation rests on

The walking tour then continues along the perimeter of the property where there are many play areas, swings, picnic benches and rest areas. Lunch is at the community kitchen, village food cooked over wood fire in clay pots. Tea and snacks are also available.

The basecamp has welcomed 1000's of visitors from top colleges and universities in Mangalore and even from Mysore and Bangalore. Due to its conservation work in the area we often host lawyers, forest officers, government officials and wildlife experts. The basecamp also attracts dozens of international volunteers from Germany, Italy, USA, France and Japan who stay and work at the Basecamp from 2 weeks to 2 months.

The Broken Forest Tour is an Educational and Entertainment experience suitable for student, family and corporate groups. The message is a serious one but the Tour is designed to be simple and fun and resonates very well with school children right up to adults and even experts

TEDx The Broken Forest Files explains the state of our forests using data from ISFR 2023 Vol 1 & ISFR 2023 Vol 2 by FSI and the laws governing preservation of trees and regulation of tree felling namely Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act 1976). Below are pictures that provide context to the TEDx talk

Using Kanthavara as his base Jeeth is involved in the Aranya Mala initiative which envisages connecting several protected areas in the region to each other and further on to Kudremukh National Park by getting heavily wooded government lands between reserve forests notified as 'Conservation Reserves' and thereby affording wildlife a safe corridor for movement between forests. Fragmentation of forests and wild spaces has led to a dramatic loss of bio-diversity which in turn undermines the bio-physical foundations of modern civilization. Jeeth works in consultation with stalwarts in the field of conservation and also with several young interns and volunteers