Newmai News Network
Guwahati | June 11
Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh has released the draft document for National Mission for Green India in Guwahati today. Green India Mission (GIM) will protect the north eastern region from the fall-out of the climate change, Union minister of state for environment and forest, Jairam Ramesh today said.
It is one of the eight National Missions under India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change and proposes a fundamental shift in the mindset from traditional focus on increasing the quantity of forest cover to increasing the quality of forest cover. Jairam Ramesh said on Friday, that the Mission proposed to take a holistic view of forestry and not merely focus on plantations to meet carbon sequences targets.
“There is a deliberate and major focus on decentralization and a conscious attempt to involve local governance institutions in the implementation of the Mission. We plan to engage the public citizens and civil society in the design of the Mission itself,” he said.
The objectives of the Mission are three-fold. The Mission looks to double the area taken up under afforestation/eco restoration over the next 10 years. The second objective is to contribute to enhanced resilience of the forests and other ecosystems being treated under the Mission. Significant benefits would accrue in terms of biodiversity values as well as enhanced provisioning services to help local communities adapt to climatic variability.
The third objective is to increase above and below ground biomass in 10 million hectares of forests and other ecosystems.
An estimated Rs.44,000 crore would be spent on the Mission. “The North-East has seven per cent of India’s land with 25 per cent of the country’s total forest cover. However, its vulnerability to climate change is more than any other parts in the country. Therefore, it is appropriate we start (consultations) from the North-East,” the Minister said.
Earlier, Ramesh said, the emphasis had been on increasing the forest cover but now efforts were being made to increase as well as protect the forest cover. “We want to involve as many groups from the society in preparation and finalization of the Mission. By November, we’ll have the first comprehensive assessment,” Ramesh said.
“Forests and people have been adversaries over the years. But now we want to work in partnership with the communities to achieve the goal,” the Minister said. He informed that initially a study would be conducted to see the impact of climate change on the Himalayas, Coastal Ghats, Western Ghats and the North-East.
By 2012, Ramesh said, India will launch the Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Satellite and by 2013, the country will have its own mechanism. “A centre would be set up at the NEHU (North East Hills University) in Shillong. The objective is to provide a continuing focus on the impact of climate change in the region,” Ramesh said.
“The eastern Himalayan ecosystem has not got the kind of attention like the western Himalayan ecosystem earlier. Therefore, it has now been decided that much attention would be given to eastern Himalayan ecosystem,” he said. As part of the Mission, all wetlands in the country would be mapped. He said India was one of the few countries in the world that were adding to world forest cover.
