Green India Mission (GIM) – National Mission for a Green India
Green India Mission (GIM) – National Mission for a Green India
- Green India mission is one of the missions that come under the umbrella of the National Action Plan on Climate Change NAPCC. Every country has an obligation to arrest the downward spiral of climate change. Hence India as a responsible growing global power, India took up the responsibility of reducing the deleterious effects of climate change by launching different missions under NAPCC. Green India Mission is one of them. It was launched in 2014. The primary aim is to protect, restore and enhance India’s diminishing forest cover.
Objectives of Green India Mission (GIM)
- Growth in forest or tree cover to 5 million hectares (mha) and increase the quality of forest cover in another 5 million hectares of forest or non-forest lands. There are separate sub-targets for a variety of forests and its ecosystems namely, grassland, dense forest, wetland etc.
- Increase the quality of degrading moderately dense forests – 1.5 million hectares (ha).
- Ecologically restore open forests which are being degraded – 3 million hectares (ha)
- Grasslands revival – 0.4 million hectares
- Wetlands revival – 0.10 million hectares
- Ecological restoration of shifting cultivation areas, mangroves, scrub, ravines, cold deserts, & abandoned mining areas – 1.8 million hectares with different sub-targets.
- Increase in forest cover in urban areas and its outskirts – 0.20 million hectares.
- Increase in forest and tree cover on marginal agricultural lands/fallows and other non-forest lands which comes under agroforestry – 3 million hectares.
- Increase forest-based livelihood income for about 3 million households in and around these forest areas.
- Increase Carbon Dioxide sequestration to a range of 50 to 60 million tonnes by 2020.
Implementation of Green India Mission (GIM)
- At the national level implementation is done by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
- The State Forest Development Agency will guide the mission at the state level.
- At the district level, the implementation will be done by the Forest Development Agency.
- The gram sabha and various committees are the key institutions for planning and implementation at the village level.
- In urban areas, the ward level committees like Residents Welfare Association (RWA) linked to the municipality/municipal corporations facilitate planning and implementation under the mission.
- Potential to develop 1 lakh skilled local community youth who would provide support in community-based forest conservation. They would act as a bridge between the community and implementing agencies such as the forest department.
Enhancing the annual carbon dioxide sequestration is a part of this mission.
How is the Green India mission different from other NAPCC missions?
- It has a preparatory phase of 1 year which is missing in other missions of NAPCC, mentioned in related links given at the end of the article.
What are the features of GIM preparatory phase?
- Rs 50 crores were set aside from the National Clean Energy Fund for the preparatory year 2011-12. The amount was released for 21 states for 71 landscapes involving 708 villages. The activities in the preparatory phase included micro-planning, entry point activities, nursery development, landscape identification awareness and outreach.