Govt proposes to leverage its forests at Oslo climate talks

The Oslo meet seeks to arrive at an interim partnership arrangement for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries.

In this context, India’s concrete plan to leverage its forests as part of its efforts to combat the adverse effects of climate change will help bolster its case for a comprehensive framework for compensation and incentives on forestry as part of the ongoing negotiations on climate change.

The Green India mission recognises that climate change will seriously affect and alter the distribution, type and quality of natural resources and associated livelihoods of the people. It acknowledges influences that the forestry sector has on environmental amelioration through climate mitigation, food security, water security, biodiversity conservation and livelihood security of forest-dependent communities. 

At a cost of Rs 44,000 crore and a time frame of 10 years, the mission proposes to double the area taken up for afforestation and eco-forestation in India in the next decade. The forest department has a target of adding 10 million hectare of forest cover in 10 years. The mission proposes an additional 10 million hectare increase. It also proposes to increase the greenhouse gas removal by forests to 6.35%. This presents an increase of 1.5% over the rate of GHG removal in the absence of the Green India mission. As a long-term measure, the mission proposes to enhance the resilience of forests and ecosystems by enhancing infiltration, groundwater recharge, stream and spring flows, biodiversity value and provisioning of services to help local community adapt to climatic variability.

The attempt is to provide a holistic view to greening. The emphasis will be on restoration of eco-systems and habitat diversity. The effort will not be limited to restoring degraded forests, but will contribute to protection and enhancement of forests with relatively dense forest cover. Local communities will play a key role in project governance and implementation. Vulnerability and potential will be the criteria for selecting project areas under the mission. A fourlevel comprehensive monitoring framework has been proposed.

An advisory council headed by the minister for environment and forests will provide guidance to the mission. A national steering committee will provide necessary direction and support to the mission’s activities. The mission is part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change, which puts forward India’s domestic voluntary efforts to counter the adverse impacts of climate change.

Source:Times of India