(IGP) Special Current Affairs Material for IAS (Pre) 2013 - PIB "Topic : Green India Mission - A Way To Enhance Eco-systems"

(IGP) Special Current Affairs Material for IAS (Pre) 2013

Chapter: Gist of Press Information Bureau Articles

Topic: Green India Mission – A Way To Enhance Eco-systems

Q. What is Green India Mission?

The National Mission for a Green India is one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change.

The Green India Mission recognizes that climate change phenomena will seriously affect and alter the distribution, type and quality of natural resources of the country and the associated livelihoods of the people.

GIM acknowledges the influences that the forestry sector has on environmental amelioration though climate mitigation, food security, water security, biodiversity conservation and livelihood security of forest dependent communities.

Q. What is the specialty of GIM?

  • The Key Innovations are the focus on quality of forests, ecosystem services, democratic decentralization, creating a new cadre of Community Youth as Foresters, Adoption of Landscape-based Approach and Reform Agenda as conditionality. 

  • Total Mission Cost is Rs 46,000 crore for a period of 10 years covering both Centre and States.GIM puts the “greening” in the context of climate change adaptation and mitigation, meant to enhance ecosystem services like carbon sequestration and storage (in forests and other ecosystems), hydrological services and biodiversity; along with provisioning services like fuel, fodder, small timber and NTFPs.

  • The primary focus will be on improving density of forest cover, emphasizing on biodiversity, water and improved biomass, Carbon sequestration as co-benefit and addressing ecosystems like grasslands, wetlands, urban and peri-urban.

  • Gram Sabha will be treated as overarching institution to facilitate implementation of the Mission activities at village level, nested as Polycentric Approach.

  • A new cadre of community youth as foresters will build a skilled cadre of young “community foresters” from scheduled tribes and other forest dwelling communities.

  • Interventions at scale (5000-6000 hectares) at a time, simultaneous treatment of forest and non forest areas and key drivers of degradation will be addressed under Adoption of Landscape-based Approach.

Q. What are the objectives of GIM?

It plans to Increase forest/tree cover on 5 m ha of forest/non-forest lands and improved quality of forest cover on another 5 m ha (a total of 10 m ha), improve ecosystem services including biodiversity, hydrological services and carbon sequestration as a result of treatment of 10 m ha, increase forest-based livelihood income for 3 million forest dependent households and enhance annual CO2 sequestration of 50-60 million tonnes by the year 2020.

Q. What is the organizational set up of GIM?

  • The Mission will implement its strategy through a set of 5 Sub-Missions and cross-cutting interventions at National level, an autonomous society under MEF with an inclusive governing council, the mission to develop systems for highest degree of accountability will work.

  • At State and District Levels, State Forest Development Agency (SFDA) and District FDA linked to District Planning Committee will be revamped.

  • Gram Sabha and its Committees will work at village Institutions level and in Urban Areas, Ward level Committees /RWAs with support from Municipal organizations and the Forest Departments.

  • Monitoring will be done at 4 levels, namely self Monitoring by community and field staff, Remote Sensing and GIS, third party monitoring by key indicators .The actual implementation period of the Mission would spread over 10 years, coinciding with the 12th and 13th five year plan period.

Go Back To Main Page