They Cut Down our Forest to Grow Teak: In India, a Deceptive Kind of Reforestation (French)

This story excerpt was translated from French. To read the original story in full, visit Ouest France. You may also view the original story on the Rainforest Journalism Fund website here. Our website is available in English, Spanish, bahasa Indonesia, French, and Portuguese.

After a six-hour drive from the city of Bilaspur in east-central India, a plantation is protected by wooden fences. A sign indicates that the Campa River Development Fund has grown 27,500 trees.

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Ram Singh Bagaya, chief of Tumadabra village, is not happy. "There was already a forest here, where we grew millet. But they told us that we were not allowed to come anymore and they planted teak trees, which raise the temperature and dry out the land."