On the eve of the fourth meeting of the G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group in Chennai, Bivash Ranjan, additional director general of forests (ADGF), Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, stated that India has set an ambitious target of restoring 26 million hectares of forest land and creating 2.5-3 billion tonnes of additional carbon sinks.
‘Land degradation, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity, and water resources’ is one of three theme priorities of the fourth working group, which began on Tuesday with a record number of delegates in attendance. A total of 225 delegates will attend its ministerial conference on July 28.
According to Bivash Ranjan, wild forest fires affect 27% of India’s forest acreage, and natural regeneration is not occurring. In addition, India has restored 38% of the forest area lost to mining, with the goal of reclaiming the remaining 62%.
“These degraded areas were once biodiverse landscapes. We must restore and care for them. The G20 Global Land Initiative (GLI) was started during the Saudi presidency, with the goal of preventing, halting, and reversing land degradation and reducing degraded land by 50% by 2040. GLI will keep track of whether or not the land is restored. However, India has willingly built structural and functional mechanisms to monitor restoration, as well as institutes such as the Indian Institute of Forest Management to undertake the monitoring and produce a report,” Bivash explained.
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