Environmental Awareness to Rural Women for Sustainable Development

The study was undertaken with the objective to create awareness regarding safe environment imparting environmental education and plantation of trees in the village. Participatory approach was followed. As per expert opinion from the Department of Forestry was sought regarding type of plants suitable for plantation in the selected village Gawar having sandy soil and water scarcity, nine plants were recommended. The plants under preferred category were Acasianilotica (Babool), Melia composita (Bakain), Prosopis cineraria (Khejari), Azadirachta indica (Neem) and Tecomella undulate (Rohida) while Thespesia populaneai (Bhindi tree) and Pongamia pinnata (Papri) were reported as under least preferred category. Majority of rural women i.e., 80 per cent were in the age group 30-40 years. Majority (75.0%) of the respondents were aware about meaning of environmental pollution in general. With respect to awareness about types of environmental pollution, it was found that majority of the respondents had awareness about air (75.0%) and water (60.0%) pollution, however, comparatively less number of them were aware of soil (30.0%) and noise pollution. Maximum (50.0%) respondents perceived transportation as the cause of environmental pollution followed by agricultural practices (45.0%). Survival rate of Acacia nilotica (Babool), Melia composita (Bakain), Thespesia populaneai (Bhindi tree), Eucalyptus tereticornis (Safeda), Prosopis cineraria (Khejari), Azadirachta indica (Neem) and Pongami apinnata(Papri)plant was 82 to 95%, while only 66.6 per cent of Ailanthus excelsa (Mahaneem) plants survived. Survival rate of Tecomella undulate (Rohida) plant was minimum as only 34.0 per cent plants survived.