Jadav Payeng lives in a small hut on the Indian river-Island of Majuli in north eastern India, with his wife and three children.
A former labourer and forestry worker, Jadav began planting trees as a part of a government initiative in 1979.
Then 16, he chose to remain behind after the project was over, in order to care for the plants and trees.
In what was once nothing more than a baron land mass; what appears to be a mirage from the river’s edge is now, Jadav’s forest.
Some 37 years later, Jadav is still tending to his trees, now boasting an area larger than New York City’s Central Park.
The 550-hectare forest is home to many tigers, rhinos, deer, rabbits and apes, and is regularly visited by a large herd of elephant.