here is what Bittu Sahgal has to say…and i second him:
Please rethink the idea of planting one million trees in Ladakh. This is an arid zone and artificially changing the ecology of the landscape, for which massive water diversion and care will be needed, will adversely affect this, one of the most beautiful, austere wildernesses on our planet. To understand the impact of trying to green a desert, you need look no further than the Thar Desert, which has been wounded by one of the worst developmental projects imaginable — The Rajasthan Canal. This has harmed the fragile lifeforms, which had adapted to dry conditions and it has encouraged new diseases including malaria. Please. Leave Ladakh the way it is. Humans are amongst the least experienced “Gardeners of Eden”. And nature is a very unforgiving mother when its wards disobey its instructions.