Aravalli Green Wall Project: Bhupender Yadav urges people to create forests

New Delhi, Jun 16 (PTI) Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday urged people to create forests in the name of their mothers as part of the Aravalli Green Wall Project, an ambitious plan to build a 1,400-km long and five-km wide green buffer around the Aravalli mountain range.

Launching the 'National Workshop on Strategies for Combating Desertification and Drought' in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, Yadav said that unsustainable farming practices, excessive use of urea and pesticides, and overuse of groundwater are some of the key reasons for land degradation worldwide.

He warned that fast-paced desertification is threatening the human food chain.

Yadav said India is taking several steps to tackle land degradation and desertification, including interlinking of rivers, distribution of soil health cards to farmers and plantation programmes.

The government has now decided to restore degraded land in the Aravalli range, which stretches from Delhi to Gujarat, he said.

The minister encouraged people to develop "matri van" (forests named after one's mother) on degraded forest land under this initiative.

He also said that under the Green Credit Programme, companies could be asked to help restore such degraded areas.

Inspired by Africa's 'Great Green Wall' that spans from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east, the Aravalli project aims to establish a 1,400-km long and five-km wide green belt across 29 districts in Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Delhi.

Yadav said the project will be a turning point in the careers of divisional forest officers in these districts.

According to the government, the Aravalli Green Wall will help fight air pollution in the region, support India's climate goal of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, and help restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.

The five-km wide green belt across 29 districts will cover 6.45 million hectares in the four states. About 42 per cent of this area, or 2.7 million hectares, is already degraded.

Of the total degraded land, 81 per cent lies in Rajasthan, 15.8 per cent in Gujarat, 1.7 per cent in Haryana and 1.6 per cent in Delhi, according to the action plan.

The Aravallis, the oldest mountain range in India, serve as a natural barrier against desertification, preventing the spread of the Thar desert and protecting cities like Delhi, Jaipur and Gurugram.

They are also the origin of important rivers such as the Chambal, Sabarmati and Luni. The region's forests, grasslands and wetlands support endangered plant and animal species.

However, deforestation, mining, overgrazing and human encroachment are worsening desertification, damaging aquifers, drying up lakes and reducing the range's ability to support wildlife. PTI GVS KVK KVK