Jadav Payeng became known for creating a forest through decades of individual effort. His daughter Munmuni is taking that legacy into Assam’s vulnerable river islands, where restoration increasingly depends on communities.

Munmuni Payeng grew up with a forest as part of her family story. Her father, Jadav Payeng, spent decades planting and nurturing trees on a barren sandbar in Assam, eventually creating what became known as Molai Forest. His work earned him national recognition, including the Padma Shri, but the landscape he helped restore remains part of a much larger and more difficult environmental challenge.

Today, Munmuni is working on that next chapter.

Her conservation work takes her beyond the existing forest and into the fragile riverine landscapes of Assam, where sandbars and islands along the Brahmaputra are constantly reshaped by flooding, erosion and changes in the river. Working with local communities and volunteers, she has been involved in restoring these areas with native trees and creating habitats where wildlife can return.

A Forest Legacy, Reimagined

Jadav Payeng's story began in 1979, when he was 16 and saw snakes dying on a barren sandbar after flooding and heat. He began planting trees and continued for decades, gradually turning the landscape into a forest that now covers roughly 550 hectares.

Munmuni inherited more than a famous surname from that work. She grew up around the forest and eventually began developing her own approach to conservation.

In 2022, she assembled a grassroots team to work across flood-affected areas of Majuli. The group collected seeds and saplings, worked with community members and planted native species across erosion-prone sandbars and river islands. The effort became known as part of the Molai Kathoni 2.0 initiative.

The scale of the work is substantial. Sanctuary Nature Foundation reported that Munmuni was working with local communities on a mission to establish a natural forest of one million native trees near the existing Molai Kathoni Forest. Later reporting from The New Indian Express said the team had crossed the one-million-tree mark by early 2024.

But the number alone does not tell the whole story.

Planting Trees Is Only the Beginning

The land where Munmuni and her team work is not easy terrain for a plantation project.

The Brahmaputra regularly floods and reshapes its river islands. A sapling planted in one season may have to withstand changing soil, water levels and erosion before it has a chance to become a mature tree.

That is why the work involves more than putting seedlings into the ground. The team has collected seeds from the existing forest, raised plants in community nurseries, transported them to planting sites and returned to monitor areas where trees have been planted. Native species such as Bombax ceiba, mango, jackfruit and Indian jujube have been among those growing in the restored areas.

The difficulty became particularly visible in December 2025, when a fire damaged part of the Molai Kathoni 2.0 plantation. Forest Department officials said more than 5,500 saplings were destroyed and an investigation was ordered.

The incident was a reminder of something that is easy to overlook when talking about large-scale tree planting: a plantation does not become a forest simply because thousands of saplings have been planted.

Survival matters. Growth matters. And so does what happens to the ecosystem around those trees.

Bringing Communities Into Conservation

One of the most significant differences in Munmuni's work is the role of people living around these landscapes.

Her projects have involved members of local communities, volunteers, students and younger conservationists. Sanctuary Nature Foundation has documented participation from Bihari, Mising, Ahom and other communities in the reforestation effort. Munmuni has also worked through awareness programmes in Majuli and Jorhat, particularly with children and local communities.

She serves as secretary of the Forest Man Foundation and has been associated with Seuj Dhoroni, a grassroots conservation initiative. Her work therefore extends beyond planting itself. It includes encouraging people to understand and participate in the protection of the landscapes around them.

That approach matters in places where environmental restoration and everyday life are closely connected.

The Brahmaputra's islands are not empty spaces waiting to become forests. People live, farm and depend on these landscapes, while the river constantly changes their shape. Any long-term restoration effort therefore has to exist alongside the communities that inhabit the region.

The Harder Question Comes After the Millionth Tree

It is tempting to measure Munmuni's work through a single number.

A million trees is easy to understand. It is also an impressive figure.

But the more meaningful question is what those trees become.

How many survive the next flood? How many grow into mature trees? How many create shade, hold soil, support insects and birds, and eventually provide habitat for larger wildlife? And can the communities around them continue protecting the restored areas over time?

Those questions become especially important because the project is taking place on landscapes that remain vulnerable to natural and human pressures.

The fire that damaged thousands of young saplings in 2025 showed how quickly years of work can be put at risk.

For Munmuni, therefore, restoration cannot end with planting.

It has to continue through seasons, setbacks and generations.

Carrying the Legacy Forward

Jadav Payeng showed what one person's persistence could do over several decades. Munmuni's work is beginning from a different place.

She is not simply trying to recreate her father's forest.

She is working across vulnerable river islands, involving local communities and building a wider network of people who can participate in restoring Assam's degraded landscapes. Her work has already moved beyond the idea of a single person planting trees in isolation.

That may ultimately be the more important part of the legacy.

A forest created by one person can become a remarkable story. A landscape cared for by an entire community has a better chance of becoming a lasting ecosystem.

Munmuni Payeng's work is still unfolding. The million-tree milestone is significant, but it is not the final measure of what she is trying to achieve.

The real story will be written by the trees that survive, the habitats that return and the people who continue caring for them long after the planting is over.

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