Meet Sadiman, a 69 year old eco-warrior who single-handedly planted 250 hectares of trees around his drought-prone region of Central Java in Indonesia, restoring critical water sources that have led to a boom in local agriculture production.
Sadiman started his mission 24 years ago, after fires that were used to clear the land left the mountains barren, and local rivers and lakes close to dry. With a deep understanding of plants, Sadiman knew that the wide-spreading roots of banyan and ficus trees would help retain groundwater and prevent further land erosion.
People around his community were skeptical at first, and many of them called him a madman. Sadiman was undeterred and went about his mission alone. Wearing his trademark ranger hat and safari shirt, he worked tirelessly for two and a half decades to plant 11,000 trees. Despite having little money of his own, Sadiman never asked for handouts and purchased the tree seeds by trading his goats and bartering from his nursery of cloves and jackfruit.
Today Sadiman is celebrated as a local hero and affectionately addressed as ‘mbah’ or ‘grandpa’ by his community. Thanks to his relentless drive, springs have formed around the once arid land. Water is piped to homes and used to irrigate local farms, some of which have tripled their yearly harvest thanks to the abundant water sources that are now available.
Sadiman’s story is a wonderful reminder of the power of one person to change the lives of an entire community and his eco missionis already having ripple effects around the world. “I hope the people here can have prosperous lives and live happily. And don’t burn the forest over and over again.”
