A Simple Way to Help Fight Climate Change

A draft of the Green India [ Images ] Mission to double India's forest cover in 10 years at a cost of Rs 44,000 crore (Rs 440 billion) was released in New Delhi [ Images ] on Monday as part of the national action plan on climate change.

An environment and forest ministry spokesman said the draft, based on discussions with all the stakeholders, will be finalised after a series of public consultations across the country. The feedback has been solicited by email to kbthampi-mef@nic.in, varad.pande@nic.in, bmsrathore@yahoo.co.in.

As the executive summary of the draft stresses, the mission takes holistic view of 'greening' as it will not be limited to just trees and plantation but lay emphasis on restoration of eco-system and habitat diversity through development grassland and pastures, more so in arid/semi arid regions, mangroves, wetlands and other critical ecosystems.

Local communities will get a key role in project governance and implementation under the mission. Besides addressing climate change through carbon sinks in forests and other ecosystems, the mission will adapt vulnerable species/ecosystems as also the forest dependant-local communities.

The mission's goals include doubling the area of afforestation or eco-restoration to 20 million hectares in the next 10 years by 2020. The first year would be utilised in institution building, sensitisation, capacity building and baseline research. Actual field operations will commence from the second year of the Mission.

According to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh [ Images ], the Green India Mission will not only affect the climate change but also influence food, water, environment and livelihood security of tribal and forest dwellers.

He says the biggest challenge before the mission is the demand-supply gap of various provisioning services from forests, particularly fuel wood, fodder, grass, grazing, timber, cane and bamboo, creating unsustainable pressure and degrading forests and their ecosystems. Its goals include adaptation of forest-dependent local communities in the face of climatic variability.