Centre launches pilot project to reduce emissions from agriculture

News: The Government of India has launched the Green-Ag Project to reduce emissions from agriculture and ensure sustainable agricultural practices.

Facts:

• Objective: To catalyse transformative change of India’s agricultural sector to support achievement of national and global environmental benefits and conservation of critical biodiversity and forest landscapes.
• Funding: The project is funded by the Global Environment Facility while the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation, and Farmers’ Welfare (DAC&FW) is the national executing agency.
  • Other key players involved in its implementation are the Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) and the Environment Ministry (MoEF&CC).
• Coverage: The project is being implemented in the states of Mizoram, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Uttarakhand.

Additional Facts:

• Global Environment Facility(GEF): It is a Trust Fund established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.
• Aim: To help developing countries and countries with economies in transition to meet the objectives of the international environmental conventions and agreements.
• Trustee: World Bank serves as the GEF Trustee administering the GEF Trust Fund (contributions by donors).
• Financial Mechanism: GEF is a financial mechanism for five major international environmental conventions: 
  • Minamata Convention on Mercury
  • Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants(POPs), 
  • United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity(UNCBD), 
  • United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification(UNCCD) 
  • United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).