Nature as healing: Why Kashmir’s youth need forests more than screens

By John Mohammad

Jammu & Kashmir is known across the world for its breathtaking mountains, forests, rivers, and wetlands. Yet behind this extraordinary natural beauty, a quieter social challenge has been emerging among sections of the younger generation — a growing sense of disconnection, restlessness, and lack of direction.

Addressing such challenges requires more than awareness campaigns and enforcement alone. It requires offering young people a deeper sense of purpose, belonging, and inspiration. In this effort, nature itself can become one of the most powerful answers.

As someone working closely with wildlife and protected ecosystems, I have witnessed how profoundly nature can influence the human mind. The silence of a forest, the sight of wildlife in its natural habitat, the sound of flowing streams, or the arrival of migratory birds over Kashmir’s wetlands often create a sense of calm and wonder that modern distractions rarely provide. Young visitors who initially arrive out of curiosity frequently leave with admiration, responsibility, and a stronger connection to the world around them.

Many of the social challenges affecting youth today are rooted in disconnection — disconnection from community, from meaningful engagement, and from the natural environment itself. When energy, curiosity, and ambition remain without direction, they can easily drift toward harmful influences. What young people need is not only warning against destructive choices, but opportunities that inspire confidence, discipline, exploration, and hope.

Adventure and wildlife engagement provide exactly such opportunities. A student trekking through forest trails, identifying animal tracks, observing birds, or learning about fragile ecosystems gains far more than recreational experience. Such journeys cultivate patience, resilience, teamwork, and respect for life. Nature does not merely occupy the mind; it enriches it.

The forests, wetlands, and mountains of Jammu & Kashmir are not only ecological treasures but also living classrooms. Through eco-tourism initiatives, conservation volunteering, environmental awareness programmes, trekking camps, and nature education activities, young people can channel their enthusiasm into meaningful pursuits. Participation in plantation drives, habitat restoration, wildlife monitoring, or cleanliness campaigns creates a sense of ownership and responsibility toward society and the environment.

Nature also nurtures emotional balance. In the quietness of forests and the openness of landscapes, people often rediscover clarity and inner strength. Such experiences encourage empathy, and empathy strengthens human behaviour and social responsibility. A young person who learns to value a river, a bird, or a forest develops a greater appreciation for life itself.

Jammu and Kashmir therefore has an opportunity to redefine youth engagement through its natural heritage. Schools, colleges, local communities, and government institutions should work together to encourage outdoor learning, environmental education, and responsible adventure activities. Nature-based programmes can help young people build confidence, discipline, leadership qualities, and emotional resilience while also strengthening environmental awareness.

The region’s natural beauty should not remain merely a tourism slogan; it should become a source of social transformation. Every forest trail, wetland, and mountain path has the potential to inspire healthier lifestyles, stronger communities, and a more hopeful generation.

The message to the youth is simple: step outside, reconnect with nature, and discover the strength that already exists within you. The mountains will test endurance, the forests will teach patience, and the rivers will remind us of resilience. In that journey lies something far more meaningful than temporary distractions — a deeper understanding of purpose, balance, and life itself.

A stronger future for Jammu & Kashmir will not be built only through infrastructure and policies. It will also depend on how successfully society reconnects its younger generation with hope, responsibility, and the natural world that surrounds them.