Green India Mission

Context: A sum of Rs 343.08 crore has been released under the Green India Mission (GIM) for undertaking afforestation activities over an area of 126,916.32 hectare (ha) in 13 states, according to the Economic Survey 2019-20.

About Green India Mission:

GIM is one of the eight missions launched under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

• GIM, launched in February 2014, is aimed at protecting, restoring and enhancing India’s diminishing forest cover and responding to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures.

 Objectives of the Mission:

1. To protect, restore and enhance India’s falling forest cover.
2. To respond to climate change through a combination of adaptation as well as mitigation measures.
3. To increased forest-based livelihood incomes.
4. To enhance annual Carbon sequestration by 50 to 60 million tonnes in the year 2020.

Goals:

1. Improvement in quality of forest cover and ecosystem services of forests /non-forests, including moderately dense, open forests, degraded grassland and wetlands (5 m ha).
2. Eco-restoration/afforestation of scrub, shifting cultivation areas, cold deserts, mangroves, ravines and abandoned mining areas (1.8 m ha).
3. Improvement in forest and tree cover in urban/peri-urban lands (0.20 m ha)
4. Improvement in forest and tree cover on marginal agricultural lands/fallows and other non-forest lands under agroforestry /social forestry (3 m ha)
5. Management of public forest/ non-forests areas (taken up under the Mission) by the community institutions
6. Adoption of improved fuelwood-use efficiency and alternative energy devices by project-area households.
7. Diversification of forest-based livelihoods of about 3 million households living in and around forests.

Sources: the Hindu.