{"id":49371,"date":"2019-07-11T19:00:16","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T13:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=49371"},"modified":"2019-07-11T17:25:43","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T11:55:43","slug":"7-pm-turning-down-the-heat-11th-july-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-turning-down-the-heat-11th-july-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"7 PM |Turning down the heat| 11th July, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1LSK7qSLNBLsVQ3I9ynjsjrKofGAsh_SN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Read\u00a0In-depth analysis of all the Editorials here (opens in a new tab)\">Read\u00a0In-depth analysis of all the Editorials here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Context: <\/strong>Restoration of forest and\nits impact on climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Forest restoration<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>In places where forests have been lost\nor degraded, restoration or reforestation projects may be undertaken in order\nto guarantee or accelerate the recovery of forests. Objectives of forest\nrestoration can range from economic incentives, to social or cultural values,\nto ecosystem services, to biodiversity conservation. The task of forest\nrestoration can be a complex one, however, involving diverse ecological and\nsocial systems, which are not always fully accounted for or understood.<\/li><li>As per\nIndia State of Forest Report (ISFR), 2017 total forest and tree cover is\n8,02,088 sq km which is 24.39% of total geographical area of India. Forest\ncover is classified into three density classes viz. Very Dense Forest (canopy\ndensity &gt;70%), Moderately Dense Forest (canopy density 40% to 70%) and Open\nForest (canopy density 10% to 40%). India is endowed with rich forest types\nlike Tropical Wet Evergreen Forests, Tropical Moist Deciduous Forests, Tropical\nDry Deciduous, Sub Tropical Dry Evergreen Forests, Himalayan Moist Temperate\nForests, Sub-Alpine and Alpine Scrub Forests etc.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is the need for forest restoration in India?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Rural India:<\/strong> With more than 700 million people in rural India dependent on\nforests and agriculture for their livelihoods, improved forest and tree cover\nmust meet their priorities, particularly inclusive development.<\/li><li><strong>Global commitments:<\/strong>\nIndia is emerging as a global leader in landscape restoration. The country\u2019s\nbold commitments include restoring 21 million hectares of deforested and\ndegraded land under the Bonn Challenge, and sequestering an additional 2.5 to 3\nbillion tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030 through increased forest and tree cover\nunder India\u2019s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).<\/li><li><strong>Livelihood assessment:<\/strong>\n&nbsp;Forest and tree\ncover have a direct impact on livelihoods. For instance, the Non-Timber Forest\nProduce (NTFP) sector is one of the largest unorganized sectors in India, with\nan annual turnover of more than USD 800 million, and supports the livelihoods\nof 250 million people.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Policy framework:<\/strong>\nIndia has developed a strong legal and policy\nframework for Forestry sector for sustainable forest governance through\nNational Forest Policy, 1988, Indian Forest Act, 1927, Forest (Conservation)\nAct, 1980 and Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. National Forest Policy, 1988\nsets a strategy of forest conservation with principal aim of ensuring\nenvironmental stability and maintenance of ecological balance by bringing a\nminimum of one-third of total land area of the country under forest or tree\ncover. National Forest Policy is now under revision to incorporate issues those\nhave gained importance in last few decades.<\/li><li><strong>Increasing forest droughts:<\/strong>\nEven as the country talked loudly about the worst drought in recent years in 10\nstates, there was not even a word on the impacts of the drought in forest\nareas. The drought dealt a double blow for forest dwellers\u2014the loss of crops\nand the disappearance of Non-timber Forest Products (NTFPs), their crucial\nbuffer economy. Since there is no official nomenclature for forest droughts in\nIndia, there is no official plan to deal with them. This means while a farmer\ncan get compensation for failed crops, forest dwellers do not receive anything\nin compensation for their loss of income from NTFPs. According to the director\nof the National Institute of Disaster Management, droughts experienced in\nforest areas have a direct impact on the hydrology of the region.<\/li><li><strong>Ecosystem services:<\/strong>\nThere\nare a number of components to the broad range of ecological services that\nforests provide. These include: &nbsp;the regulation of water regimes by\nintercepting rainfall and regulating its flow through the hydrological system;\nthe maintenance of soil quality and the provision of organic materials through\nleaf and branch fall; the limiting of erosion and protection of soil from the\ndirect impact of rainfall;&nbsp;modulating climate; and being key components of\nbiodiversity both in themselves and as a habitat for other species.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Measures taken by the government to increase the forest restoration:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>National Afforestation&nbsp;\nand Eco-Development Board (NAEB):<\/strong> The National Afforestation and Eco-Development\nBoard (NAEB), set up in August 1992,is responsible for promoting\nafforestation,tree planting, ecological restoration and eco-development\nactivities in the country, with special attention to the degraded forest areas\nand lands adjoining the forest areas, national parks, sanctuaries and other\nprotected areas as well as the ecologically fragile areas like the Western\nHimalayas, Aravallis, Western Ghats, etc.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Partnership with World Resource Institute (WRI):<\/strong> WRI India is developing\na resource suite for restoration planning based on Restoration Opportunities\nAssessment Methodology (ROAM) and bringing together different tools, resources\nand methods. Trainings on the resource suite have been conducted for officials\nfrom state government departments, forest departments, NABARD, civil society\norganizations, researchers and land use consultants.<\/li><li><strong>Joint forest management: <\/strong>The Indian Forest Policy of 1988 (MoEF, 1988) and the\nsubsequent government resolution on participatory forest management (MoEF,\n1990) emphasize the need for people&#8217;s participation in natural forest\nmanagement. Under joint forest management (JFM), village communities are\nentrusted with the protection and management of nearby forests. The areas\nconcerned are usually degraded or even deforested areas. However, in Andhra\nPradesh and Madhya Pradesh all village fringe forests can come under JFM. The\ncommunities are required to organize forest protection committees, village\nforest committees, village forest conservation and development societies, etc.&nbsp;There are more than 16,000 JFM\nCommittees who manage an area of 22 million hectare in the country.<\/li><li><strong>Green\nIndia Mission:<\/strong> National Mission for a Green India or the commonly\ncalled Green India Mission (GIM), is one of the eight Missions outlined under\nIndia\u2019s action plan for addressing the challenge of climate change\n-the&nbsp;National Action Plan on Climate Change&nbsp;(NAPCC). GIM, launched in\nFebruary 2014, is aimed at protecting; restoring and enhancing India\u2019s\ndiminishing forest cover and responding to climate change by a combination of\nadaptation and mitigation measures. The\nmission has the broad objective of both increasing the forest and tree cover\nby&nbsp; 5 million ha,&nbsp; as&nbsp; well as increasing the quality of the\nexisting forest and tree cover in&nbsp; another 5 million ha of forest\/ non\nforest lands in 10 years.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Issues and measures related to forest restoration:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Funding:<\/strong> The\nGreen India Mission, aimed at \u201cprotecting, restoring and enhancing India\u2019s\ndiminishing forest cover and responding to climate change\u201d, is grossly underfunded,\naccording to a Parliamentary committee report. \u201cThe scheme is proposed for 10\nyears with an outlay of&nbsp;Rs&nbsp;60,000 crore.&nbsp;During\n2017-18,&nbsp;Rs&nbsp;47.8 crore has been allocated for&nbsp;the scheme which\nis grossly insufficient as the committed liability for 2015-16 and 2016-17 is\nRs 89.53 crore which is much more than the budget allocated,\u201d says the report\ntitled \u2018Performance of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)\npertaining to Ministry of Environment, Forest &amp; Climate Change\u2019. There are\n42,000crore compensatory afforestation (CAMPA) fund accumulated with the\ngovernment, so the central&nbsp; government\nshould release the&nbsp; fund to state\ngovernments and states will start afforestation programmes.<\/li><li><strong>Flaws in policies:<\/strong> &nbsp;the Afforestation done under the green india mission\nwas only aimed at increasing tree count without considering the soil and\nweather conditions. \u201cTrees like eucalyptus were planted which make\nenvironmental problems worse rather than solving it. Planting of unsuitable\ntrees may cause drought, and prevent biodiversity in the regions\u201d. Though plantation activity is aimed\nat increasing green cover, they cannot replace actual forest cover. Forest has\nplants and trees of numerous varieties and sizes and shapes. Forests grow\nnaturally and according to climate conditions existing in the area. So policies\nshould be framed to increase the primary forest not to increase the tree cover.<\/li><li><strong>Food security and climatic goals:<\/strong> India\u2019s economic growth\nis expected to continue in the coming decades, bringing with it increased per\ncapita GDP and improved standards of living. India\u2019s population is also\nprojected to reach 1.6 billion by as early as 2036. The higher population and\nincomes are likely to come with not only increased demand for food but also\nhigher demand for food from animal products, Agriculture adversely affects\nfreshwater quality and quantity, land use and biodiversity and the greenhouse\ngas levels.&nbsp;If India wants to increase\nits food production without missing its climate targets, then it will need new\nscience and technology solutions, behavioral changes and expansion of crop\nlands without degrading forest cover.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong> Forests are the green lungs of the\nnation and provide various ecological services like clean air, water,\nmaintenance of soil-moisture regime by checking soil erosion etc. Forests\nmaintain environment stability and ecological balance. Natural forests with the\nvast variety of flora and fauna are hub of biodiversity. Forests directly\nsequester Carbon dioxide from atmosphere and play a critical role in checking\nglobal warming and climate change. Forests check extension of sand-dunes\npreventing desertification. Healthy forest eco-systems are necessary for\nreversal of land degradation in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/turning-down-the-heat\/article28363958.ece\">https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/turning-down-the-heat\/article28363958.ece<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Read\u00a0In-depth analysis of all the Editorials here Context: Restoration of forest and its impact on climate change. Forest restoration: In places where forests have been lost or degraded, restoration or reforestation projects may be undertaken in order to guarantee or accelerate the recovery of forests. Objectives of forest restoration can range from economic incentives, to&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-turning-down-the-heat-11th-july-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 PM |Turning down the heat| 11th July, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7-pm","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/7-PM.png?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704765967},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}