KERALA RISING · FROM EXPORTING PEOPLE TO EXPORTING IDEAS survival-score incentive, that move earns almost nothing, because the provisional points evaporate when the six-month follow-up fails. So planters choose hardier native species, plant at sane densities, and come back to water and protect what they planted, because the reward, the leaderboard position, and the patron’s renewed sponsorship all depend on the tree being alive a year later. The engine does not exhort people to care for trees; it makes caring for trees the only way to score. The partner institution The Forest Department, the Haritha Keralam Mission, and local self-government own the outcome; the program supplies the survival-audited register that turns planting drives into measurable green cover. It complements existing afforestation schemes by fixing their weakest link. What happens after planting day, and gives the partner credible survival data for carbon and green-cover reporting that planting photographs never could. What comparable efforts teach Large-scale tree-planting drives across India. Including record-setting single-day mass plantings, have drawn repeated scrutiny for poor survival, with independent follow-ups sometimes finding that a 192