As part of a drought mitigation effort few NGOs in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh stated the effort to raise the sinking ground water table back in 1994. It took construction of check dams to conserve the meagre rainfall in the "rainshadow area"... Creation of woodlots of afforestation to act as catchment area for the run off streams to conserve in "watersheds ld to tank bund construction. That led to soil conservation measures. That led to agro ecological interventions: among them cultivation dry land crops like millets to tame the top soil. A whole lot of green trees were planted in this experiment to tame the top soil... herbs, medicinal plants, evergreen endemic trees, (among them Mango - like this proud farmer here below shares ... made him a stake holder in combatting desertification)

The fruit bearing tres not just yielded a rich harvest and sustainable income but softened the dry arid conditions and tamed the soil - turning it from loamy sandy soil to rich soft fertile top soil. And after twenty years the ground water table which had sunk to 60 metres below the ground raised itself to four metres below the ground! Fruity sweet mangoes sweetened the lives of impoverished farmers who had lacked livelihood food and water security. The impoverished rural populace in the most accursed rainshadow areas of the Sub coninent lacked sanitation and menstrual hygiene. Malnutrition and poverty plagued them from noon to night. Magical Mangoes brought a green cover of prosperity avccounting for the raise in Standard of Living and Human Development Index. NGOs started paralll interventions like literacy drives, fisheries intervention, infrastructure development, food security measures, health and hygiene awareness, micro finance, etc.It quite literally contributed to inclusive horizontal economic growth.  It also ledto transparent administration as land acquisition became eco friendly.  

The green undergrowth augmented groundwater resources and local hydrology. Soil conversation further contributed to enriching the hydrology and raising the ground water table. 

Here below you can see the red topsoil ... Imagine this area was once covered by sandy loamy soil that could not reatain water run off. Trees that were plantd to tame the soil included Silver oak ad other timber yielding species. Silver oak being exempt from ree Protection Act and identified as non timber forest produce gave land owners a profit from timber. Foliage from this Submontane timber tielding species took time to disintegrate into the soil, further moistening the soil in the long term... Soil Organic Carbon. Carbon sequestration in the natural cycle. NGOs now swear by natural resource management. 

Mixed crop tropical broad leaves deciduous species enrihed the top soil faster. Imagine the effort that went into getting rain water run off to quench the parched earth and make it a peennial stream! 

Medicinal plants like Amla or Phyllanthis emblica has now proven its efficay in combatting th epidemic propprtions of Diabetes! it should be propagated as livelhood enhancers in Island states for Islanders to benefit from medicinal plant cultivation.  Its leaf litter makes for great green manure in the Tropics.