Green India Mission is not business

Green India Mission is not business as usual. If that is the case, we will be playing with people's sentiments. This is about improving our mental outlook. It is an opportunity to bring about change.
The national consultations will be held in four more cities: Dehradun, Bhopal, Jaipur and Mysore, after which a final draft of the Mission will be prepared in August. Organisations and individuals from all over Maharashtra participated, suggesting ways to make the Mission a success.

The Green India Mission is a part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), aiming to increase the forest cover in the country by 10 million hectares by 2020 and enhance eco-system services in a holistic manner.

BMS Rathore, a core group member, laid down the means by which the Environment Ministry sought to achieve the mission: strengthening local community institutions and the capacity of the forest department, improving investment climate for planting and forest conservation and monitoring at outcome levels. A number of propositions were presented to the Minister through the day. Citizens brought up the questions of livelihood security, proper use of funds and the issue of de-greening vs. greening. Vishwambhar Choudhari, of Oasis Environmental Foundation, which is a part of the National Alliance of People's Movement (NAPM), said that although the Mission was concentrating on ‘greening' the country, it should not be forgotten that ‘de-greening' through afforestation is also resulting in a loss of forest cover. “Taking the example of Lavasa City that has cut hundreds of trees and not got any clearance from the Environment Ministry, we should look into such matters before planting more trees,” he added.

A step ahead towards green india 2047

The government will try to pass the National Green Tribunal Bill, 2009, in the current Parliament session. The Bill aims at establishing an autonomous tribunal, independent of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), for environmental clearance of development projects and providing relief and compensation to people affected by natural calamities."The Bill was introduced in Parliament this July and has been referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee, which is expected to submit its report on Monday," said Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh while launching the ‘Green India 2047’ report here today. environmental governance required strengthening. At present, 21 per cent of the land area is under forest cover, while the tree cover stands at 3 per cent.

Moreover, of the total forest cover, only 2 per cent is high density and 9 per cent medium density. The remaining 10 per cent of the forest area is degraded land. "We need to improve the quality of forests, as 10 per cent of greenhouse gases are sequestered by 65 per cent of India’s forest cover and this level should be maintained going ahead.As part of environmental governance, India would be in a position to provide an alternative gross domestic product (GDP) by 2015 that will also account for the consumption of natural resources as well and this GDP would stand for Green Domestic Product.

Green India Mission to be double by 2020

The Green India Mission, part of India's plan to fight climate change, proposed to double the area being taken up for afforestation and eco-restoration over the next decade.The first draft of the Mission, released on Monday, projects an ambitious target of 20 million hectares by 2020, at a cost of Rs. 44,000 crore. Public consultations will be undertaken across the country from June 11, following which the draft will be finalised.Earlier, the Prime Minister had spoken of undertaking afforestation in 6 million hectares of degraded forest land as part of the Mission, which is one of the eight Missions of the National Action Plan on Climate Change. The more ambitious target in this draft, however, emphasises a holistic approach to greening, making it clear that the project will not just be limited to trees and plantations, but would focus on restoring diverse ecosystems. The new and restored forest areas will act as a carbon sink. They are expected to absorb an additional 43 million tonnes of green house gases every year. This means that India's forests will be able to absorb 6.35 per cent of the country's annual emissions by 2020. The draft is rather vague on the source of funding, merely saying that the “resources will be mobilised as additionality from the Planning Commission.” It adds that “the deficit, if any, will be taken care of by developing projects for seeking assistance from international funding agencies, UN organisation, etc.”

Last month, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh had indicated that the government was hunting for funds for the green india Mission, as “the money collected under the compensatory afforestation scheme would now be transferred to the States and so would not be available.”

India’s mammoth afforestation scheme, the Green India Mission, may have more greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction potential than previously estimated, according to a yet-to-be published study in Current Science.

The mission could offset about 10.5% of projected national GHG emissions compared with the ministry of environment and forests’ earlier estimate of 6.4%, according to Greening India Mission: A critical review by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. The study has been submitted for review.

If the new estimates are true, it will make easier India’s task of reducing carbon intensity— effectively the amount of GHG emitted per unit of energy consumed—by 20-25% by 2020 (with 2005 as the base year). India made the commitment ahead of a UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.

The 10.5% estimate includes the total mitigation potential of ongoing afforestation schemes in India (around 1.2-1.3 million ha annually).

The GHG removal by India’s forests in 2020 is projected at 4.87% of total emissions then, without the Green Mission.

“The government’s estimate does not include soil carbon, which implies the lower estimate. There are two ways forests store carbon, one as wood and biomass (above ground and root biomass) carbon and the other as soil carbon. The official estimate includes only above ground biomass,” said the paper’s author, who did not want to be identified before its publication.

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh, who had announced the mission, did not respond to calls or text messages.

According to the study, the official number is estimated by simply multiplying global default biomass growth rate values by area, whereas the study uses the internationally accepted comprehensive mitigation assessment process model.

The author said both the estimations have one limitation. “Neither of the numbers include extraction of fuelwood or timber from these forests over the years, which could reduce it a bit. There is no way to estimate how much people will extract,” said the author.

The mission, which plans on restoring and afforesting around 10 million ha between 2010 and 2020, is a part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change. The mission draft is still under public consultation, after which it will be finalized. The draft estimates that the mission will cost approximately Rs44,000 crore.

India is also negotiating on the global climate change platform for funds to maintain forest cover as well as afforestation.

At present, global negotiations are more focused on funds for reducing deforestation, which releases carbon dioxide.

Jagdish Kishwan, director general, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, questioned the argument that measuring carbon sequestration by afforestation is tough.

“It is not so difficult, (it’s) very much possible, but depends on what accuracy you want,” he said. “Earlier, no one thought we could measure forest cover.”

The study says the biggest barriers to the mission are finance, and knowledge and experience in forest management.

“India has a gigantic afforestation programme, next only to China. But no biodiversity or social benefits have accrued,” said the author. “Little science, and research and development is involved in sustainable silviculture practices or species choice. And very little in enhancing carbon stock. Hardly anything has happened in the last 30 years. Hopefully this will provide a momentum.”