The central government’s afforestation scheme, Green India Mission (GIM), was able to only achieve 2.8 per cent of its plantation target, according to the Economic Survey 2021.

Try this PYQ:

Q.Consider the following statements:

1. As per law, the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority exists at both National and State levels.
2. People’s participation is mandatory in the compensatory afforestation programmes carried out under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Green India Mission

• GIM is one of the eight Missions outlined under India’s action plan for addressing the challenge of climate change -the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
• Launched in February 2014, it is aimed at protecting; restoring and enhancing India’s diminishing forest cover and responding to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures.
• The mission has the broad objective of both increasing the forest and tree cover by 5 million ha,  as well as increasing the quality of the existing forest and tree cover in 10 years.
• The Mission proposes a holistic view of greening and focuses not on carbon sequestration targets alone, but also, on multiple ecosystem services, especially, biodiversity, water, biomass etc., along with provisioning services like fuel, fodder, timber and non-timber forest produces.
• It will also increase options of forest-based livelihood of households living in the fringe of those landscapes where the Mission is implemented.

Limited success of the scheme

• As of March 2020, plantation under the scheme was undertaken only over 0.14 m ha land.
• A 2018 parliamentary committee report on GIM found that the scheme was grossly underfunded.
• The report found that the scheme had also missed its targets by 34 per cent in both 2015-16 and 2016-17 financial years.
• The committee also pointed out that the afforestation done under the mission was only aimed at increasing tree count without considering the soil and weather conditions.
• Trees like eucalyptus were planted which make environmental problems worse rather than solving it.
• Planting of unsuitable trees may cause drought and prevent biodiversity in the regions.

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