EY Foundation, Haryana State CSR Trust, and GuruJal Society sign MoU for the development of Biodiversity Park and restoration and rejuvenation of lakes at Damdama, Kherla and Abheypur villages

• To restore and rejuvenate the forest and lake spread over 500 acres
• Potential to positively impact the lives of >20 million people of NCR

Gurugram, 8 December 2022: EY Foundation today signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Haryana State CSR Trust and GuruJal Society to develop Biodiversity Park at Damdama, Kherla, and Abheypur villages and revive Damdama lake in Gurugram, Haryana. EY Foundation will provide resources and technical expertise to Haryana State CSR Trust and GuruJal, from initiating the baseline studies to designing, implementing, and monitoring the project progress.

As part of its commitment to building a clean and sustainable environment, EY Foundation will work with Haryana State CSR Trust and GuruJal Society and engage with experts from TERI, CEDAR, IITs, and Colombia University to rejuvenate and restore the lake and forest. EY Foundation will provide long-term strategic funding to the project.  

Honorable Shri. Manohar Lal, Chief Minister, Haryana, Shri Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State (MoS) Govt. of India & Member of Parliament of Gurugram, and Shri. Nishant Kumar Yadav, Deputy Commissioner (DC), Gurugram, and Chairman, GuruJal Society attended the inauguration of this restoration project, along with Mr. R. Balachander, Senior Advisor, EY Foundation, Mr. Sunil Bajaj, Grant Committee Member, EY Foundation and Mr. Santosh Pathak, Head, EY Foundation.

Speaking on the occasion, R. Balachander, Senior Advisor, EY Foundation, said, “It is essential and urgent to address the different environmental concerns and safeguard our natural habitats to protect biodiversity. This rejuvenation project will significantly contribute to improve the lake water quality to restore the balance of the local ecosystem. I am confident that we can make a positive and sustainable difference to the environment with our collective efforts.”

This project aims to address the climate crisis through the community-based ecological restoration of 420 acres of biodiversity in Damdama, Kherla, and Abheypur villages. Also, the rejuvenation of Damdama lake, which is one of Haryana's largest lakes and serves as a natural water reservoir near Sohna. The lake is now limited to only approximately 30 acres with shallow water, whereas its original spread is more than 80 acres.

“Under the leadership of Honorable Chief Minister Shri. Manohar Lal ji, both Haryana State CSR Trust and Gurujal society are relentlessly working towards achieving SDGs and making Haryana a climate resilience state. Gurugram is blessed with Aaravalis, and the development of the Damdama biodiversity park and lake will be a step towards attaining the balance between environment and economic development, ensuring a better and healthy future. With the support of EY Foundation, we can take steps closer to PM’s vision of Jal Shakti and SDGs goals.” said Shri. Nishant Kumar Yadav, DC, Gurugram and Chairman, GuruJal Society.

This initiative will significantly contribute to the United Nation's various sustainable development goals, i.e. sustainable cities and communities (goal 11), climate action (goal 13), life below water (goal 14), and life on land (goal 15). Some of the potential sustainable benefits of the project are

• 42,500 Tons of oxygen/year (maturity) at 80% survival
• 9796 Tons of CO2 sequestration/ year (maturity) at 80% survival
• Total water recharge potential - 910.40 million litre/ year
• Over 300 species of native plants/shrubs/herbs
• Increase bird and butterfly species to 200
• Increment in mammals and reptiles by 30 species
• Employment opportunities for more than 1100 people
• Impacting directly or indirectly >20 million people of NCR

At EY, we are committed to driving sustainable growth and becoming an even more sustainable organization. As part of our carbon ambition, EY is now carbon negative and targets to achieve net zero by 2025.

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Notes to Editors

EY Foundation

Established in December 2004, the EY Foundation (EYF) is the CSR arm of EY India. It is committed to making lasting transformations in the community including focusing on working for and working with the less fortunate segment to uplift them.

The EY Foundation mainly focuses on Education, Empowering rural women through entrepreneurs, and Environment. The Foundation is also committed to providing aid and relief during times of natural calamities and pandemics like COVID-19. The Foundation has its footprints across India reaching out to the most marginalized communities and target groups.

GuruJal Society

GuruJal is an integrated water management initiative, which aims to address the issues of water scarcity, ground-water depletion, flooding, and stagnation in the Gurugram District of Haryana. We aim to collaborate with the different stakeholders of the district like corporates, civil society, and research organisations to address the issue using systems thinking approach.

The focus is to work on improving the compliances of schemes and policies supporting water conservation, following up on the better enforcement of rules and regulations to mitigate water exploitation, extensive campaigning to sensitize people, come up with better design solutions for the current standing issues and work towards making a better policy framework for water management.

About Haryana State CSR Trust

Haryana State Corporate Social Responsibility Trust (Haryana State CSR Trust) was established under the provision of the Indian Trust Act 1862 by State Government of Haryana vide Gazette Notification No IFCC/Acctt/2021/8066 dated 31 March 2021 works under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Chief Minister, Haryana; in the aegis of Department of Finance, Government of Haryana to facilitate and support CSR interventions of Corporates and PSUs/PSEs through indirect and direct contribution in the state of Haryana.

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