It began with one person's desire to get the youth of a small city back into the environment. Today it has developed into an annual project, supported by city officials, and funded by the donations of supporters around the world.

In March 2000, Mohammadreza Dahi, a retired Agricultural Engineer, decided to spend some of his own money to prepare some bean capers for planting in his hometown Abadeh, a small city in the South of Iran with a dry climate. Like many other people with an interest in the environment, he was worried about the desert migration phenomenon that is destroying a large area of plant soil every year, and the loss of vegetation in the region. However, the desert migration could be stopped, and vegetation regenerated, by having more plants and trees to protect the nutritious soil for agricultural purposes.

Beginning with a very simple objective, he asked some high school students in Abadeh, brought together by the Jam'iate Andishe-hayeh Sabz ( Green Minds Group ), a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Abadeh, to help him plant the prepared bean capers in the designated areas just outside the city. He believed that the project would be an effective way to educate the students about environmental issues, and encourage them to take pride in their contribution to help improve their city. He wanted to use their enthusiasm for helping the environment, by showing them how to plant the trees step by step, and get them involved in a practical way of helping their community.

This small project became more popular after some funds were collected by Nekoo Dahi from Iranians in the United States, who donated money to show their support for such educational and environmental movements in Iran. Although a project with this small scale does not require as much money as the larger forestation projects do - such as the official forestation projects, coordinated by the Office of Natural Resources of Iran - the money has provided financial support for further improvements and expansions of the original plan.

This is a movement that now has the support of people with an interest in Iran and the environment around the world, as well as some organizations and officials in the city of Abadeh. It's not about individuals. It's about taking the initiative to show that we care about the environment, in a world where people are becoming less aware of what's happening to their surroundings.

We hope that this can continue with the support of people like you.

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