Hahai no ka ua i ka ulula'au - The rain follows after the forest.

Hahai no ka ua i ka ulula`au – seems like a magical expression, yes it is, it is a truth statement that will sustain life on earth forever. It is a Hawaiian saying. It means – The rain follows after the forest. The saying indirectly warns that if forests are destroyed, the rains will cease to fall, and the land will become a desert. And this is very true!

My previous blog post was in support of the ongoing campaign - RALLY FOR RIVERS by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. One of the significant demands of this campaign to prevent the dying of our Rivers is to plant trees along riversides up to a width of one kilometre, fruit trees on private properties and forest trees on government lands.  I covered this point in brief in my blog post.

Many would know the importance of trees in bringing about rain and life back into our Rivers. The Hawaiian saying is there to remind its people and us about the importance of trees for rain. But there would certainly be some people, no; many people who are ignorant of this fact or have read about it at School and have forgotten. Large-scale ignorance of this fact is obvious as forests are vanishing fast in our country.

This article is especially for such ignorant people. In brief, forests bring about rain. Roots of plants and trees draw water from the soil and release water vapor through their leaves into the air, in a process called Transpiration.  That water vapour rises in the atmosphere and forms new rain clouds and returns to earth in the form of rain.

The percentage of rain due to Transpiration in thick forests may be around 15 percent but once the water levels in rivers and lakes of these forests improve, rain clouds would swell due to water Evaporation from these water bodies resulting in copious rains. This near-perfect Hydrological Cycle would bring back life to our water bodies. This Hydrological Cycle can be understood through the attached posters.

Please spread this knowledge among all and support the ongoing ‘Rally for Rivers’ campaign. On a large scale may the authorities grow trees everywhere…with projects like the 'Haritha Haaram' program of the Telangana State Government, which facilitated the planting of over three crore plants in the State, in the last three years.