Almost 71% of Uttarakhand’s total geographical area is covered in forests. Since 2000, forest fires have affected over 48,000 hectares of the state. Uncontrolled fires contributed heavily to the depletion and exhaustion of natural forests, biodiversity, soil fertility and sustainable forest-based production. The Hans Foundation ​​is working with the Forest Department of Uttarakhand on a pilot program, designed to alleviate this problem by sustainably reducing the incidence of forest fires in the targeted area of Garhwal by leveraging the involvement of the local community. THF works on Mitigation and Preparedness to complement the forest department’s work on Recovery.

The Hans Foundation has successfully set up Oxygen plants in UP, Jharkhand and Nagaland in collaboration with the respective state governments. These Oxygen Plants have been essential not only for the response to the pandemic but as part of strengthening the permanent public healthcare infrastructure at the state level.

Working with governments, through grassroots partners and via own field staff, the Hans Foundation distributed more than 50,000 hygiene and sanitation kits, around 1,50,000 masks, gloves, face shields and 7000 litres of hand sanitiser in Delhi, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh during the peak of the crisis. Additionally, when the migrants started travelling back to their villages barefoot and hungry, THF along with its partners across India briskly moved into collaborative actions with the local authorities to deliver rations and other necessary commodities on large scale.