Syllabus: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Context
- Revised blueprint for Green India Mission (GIM) released putting restoration at forefront of climate action.
- Ambition: restore 25 million hectares of degraded forest/non-forest land by 2030 for climate goals.
- Directly ties to India’s climate pledge: create additional carbon sink of 3.39 billion tonnes CO₂ equivalent by decade end.
Green India Mission (GIM) Progress
- 2015-2021: Mission supported afforestation across 11.22 million hectares; ₹575 crore disbursed to 18 states.
- Forest and tree cover increased from 24.16% (2015) to 25.17% (2023) showing gradual improvement.
- New Focus
- Expands lens: focusing on biodiversity-rich landscapes like Aravalli Hills, Western Ghats, mangroves, Himalayan catchments.
- Links efforts with National Agroforestry Policy, watershed initiatives, CAMPA for integrated approach comprehensively.
Key Gaps
- Quality Concerns
- 2025 IIT Kharagpur study: 12% decline in photosynthetic efficiency of dense forests across India alarmingly.
- Main cause: rising temperatures and drying soil affecting forest carbon absorption capacity significantly.
- While forest cover growing, forests becoming less effective at absorbing carbon challenging old assumptions about restoration.
- Community Participation
- ~200 million Indians depend on forests for survival; Forest Rights Act (2006) legally empowers them.
- Plantation drives often bypass communities ignoring claims and consent eroding trust and social legitimacy significantly.
- Bright spots: Odisha’s Joint Forest Management Committees integrated in planning; Chhattisgarh experimenting with biodiversity-sensitive plantations.
- Ecological Design
- Decades of monocultures (eucalyptus, acacia) fast-growing but ecologically damaging depleting groundwater, crowding native biodiversity.
- Revised GIM promises shift toward native, site-specific species requiring local forest department expertise and capacity.
- Tamil Nadu: nearly doubled mangrove cover in three years offering carbon storage and coastal protection.
- Financing
- CAMPA fund holds ₹95,000 crore but utilization is inconsistent; Delhi spent only 23% approved funds (2019-2024).
- GIM relies heavily on CAMPA with modest allocations requiring smarter use not just more money.
- Himachal Pradesh: launched biochar programme for carbon credits; UP planted 39 crore saplings exploring carbon markets.
Way Forward
- Communities must be empowered to lead; forest departments need skills and incentives prioritizing ecological restoration over targets.
- Public dashboards tracking survival rates, species mix, fund utilization, community participation enhancing accountability transparently.
- CAMPA broaden scope: cover participatory planning, adaptive management rather than sticking narrowly to planting activities.
- Civil society, research institutions provide technical expertise, design participatory monitoring tools transforming GIM into national movement.