Best of 2025: 7 Sustainability Heroes Who Healed India’s Hills, Rivers & Neighbourhoods This Year

In 2025, change did not arrive through big announcements or sweeping policies alone. It took shape on barren hills, polluted rivers, dry village springs, and overheated city streets.

Advertisment

Add The Better India As A Trusted Source

• Stories
• Visual Stories

Across India, ordinary people responded to ecological stress with persistence and care. They planted trees where soil had given up, slowed rivers clogged with waste, rebuilt water systems by hand, and brought forests back into concrete neighbourhoods. Each effort began locally, shaped by the land and communities it served.

This year’s sustainability trailblazers showed restoration in action. 

Here are seven changemakers whose work reshaped landscapes and strengthened communities in 2025.

1. Dr Shankar Lal Garg: Transforming a barren hill into a thriving forest

Dr Shankar Lal Garg, a retired professor from Indore, transformed a barren hill into Keshar Parvat, a flourishing 22-acre forest with over 40,000 trees. His journey gained momentum after a fire in 2019 destroyed 1,000 of his trees, a moment that could have ended his efforts. 

Instead, he saw it as a chance to rebuild and grow even stronger. Today, Keshar Parvat stands as a vibrant green haven, providing shelter for wildlife, improving the local environment, and inspiring communities to believe in the power of perseverance and nature’s revival.

Read his full journey here

2. Pankaj Kumar: Devoting his life to restoring India’s rivers

Pankaj Kumar, a former corporate professional from Delhi, quit his job to dedicate himself full-time to cleaning India’s rivers, founding the volunteer-driven initiative ‘Earth Warriors’. His journey began when he witnessed the Yamuna choked with plastic and sewage, a stark reminder of the environmental crisis threatening communities. 

Today, Earth Warriors conducts weekly clean-ups, inspects sewage plants across 12 states, and holds civic bodies accountable. So far, their work has helped prevent tonnes of waste from entering rivers, restoring cleaner waterways for thousands of people and inspiring citizens to act.

Read the full story here.

3. DC Sekhar: Turning river currents into powerful waste-cleaning allies

Captain DC Sekhar, a former Merchant Navy officer from Bengaluru, has turned his love for waterways into a mission to stop river waste at its source. After witnessing plastic-choked rivers during his travels, he invented a low-cost, fuel-free floating barrier that uses natural currents to trap trash before it reaches the sea. 

What sets his invention apart is its simplicity and sustainability — it requires no fuel, is entirely passive, and costs nearly 30 times less than foreign alternatives. Installed in Chennai’s Cooum and Adyar rivers, it has already captured over 20,000 tonnes of waste, protecting communities and inspiring local action.

Read his story here. 

4. Ramesh Kharmale: Breathing life into Junnar’s hills with water and trees

Ramesh Kharmale, a 49‑year‑old ex‑Army man from Junnar, Pune, leads a family‑driven mission to revive barren hills with contour trenches and native trees. His journey began in 2021, when he spent over 300 hours carving 70 trenches on Dhamankhel Hill to trap rainwater and combat water scarcity. 

These trenches now store about 8 lakh litres of rainwater each season, boosting groundwater and resilience. With his wife and children, he has planted over 450 trees and plans many more. Their work has turned dry slopes green, enriched local ecosystems, and inspired volunteers across villages. 

Know more about his story here.

5. Dr Lal Singh: Healing poisoned lands with thriving bamboo forests

Dr Lal Singh, Principal Scientist and Project Leader at CSIR‑NEERI, transformed polluted land in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha by growing thriving bamboo forests on fly‑ash–laden wastelands. What began as a scientific assignment became a lifelong mission after he saw once grey, lifeless soil turn green under bamboo’s resilience. 

His Eco‑Rejuvenation Technology healed soil, improved air quality, and restored water safety. Over time, long stretches of land near Koradi, Khaparkheda, and Chandrapur became lush and productive, and local farmers and 20 women employed on site benefited from cleaner air and steady livelihoods.

Read the full story here. 

6. Lakmen Mary Nongkhlaw: Empowering her village with water and greenery

Lakmen Mary Nongkhlaw, a long‑serving assistant teacher from Kyrdemkhla village near Mawsynram in Meghalaya, turned her community’s daily water struggle into a story of self‑sufficiency. Her journey began with her own exhausting treks uphill for water, a routine shared by many women in her village.

Determined to ease that burden, she led villagers to build four check dams, five water storage tanks, and renovate six spring chambers. Under her leadership, the community also planted 16,000 saplings, and now six village taps deliver water even in dry seasons. These efforts have freed women from arduous daily fetches, giving them time for education, family, and work — reshaping life in her village one tap at a time

Read her story here.

7. Krishnakumar S: Creating vibrant Miyawaki forests in city landscapes

Krishnakumar S, founder of Thuvakkam from Chennai, has grown urban forests across two major cities by planting over 65,000 native trees. What began as a simple college tree‑planting drive to revive greenery became a larger effort to restore nature amid concrete landscapes. 

Using the Miyawaki method, he and his volunteers have created 40+ dense forests in Chennai and Hyderabad that improve air quality, cool neighbourhoods, recharge groundwater, and welcome birds and biodiversity. Today, his work reconnects city residents with nature and proves that small green patches can make a big environmental change.

Read more about the transformation here.