India adopted collective approach to achieve land restoration target by 2030: Bhupender Yadav

New Delhi: Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitments in restoration of 26 Mha of degraded land by 2030, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said, India has adopted collective approach for making progress towards achieving the national commitments related to land restoration.

Bhupender Yadav was speaking at an event organised by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) on the world Desertification and Drought Day on Friday in New Delhi.

This day is commemorated by the Ministry every year, with an aim to generate large scale awareness for understanding the key role of land in all environmental and economic concerns facing India and the world.

The commemoration of this event encourages individuals and groups to take initiatives that can keep the land healthy and productive.

The event showcased presentations on various aspects of desertification such as on Initiative taken on restoration of Banni grassland, experience on Indian eco-restoration of deserts, forestry certification & achieving land degradation neutrality.

“India has been at the forefront of bringing the issue of land degradation to the core of relevant international alliances for protection and conservation of environment”
Yadav said.

Emphasing on the role of women in land management he said, combating desertification should be achieved in mission mode. The Minister also asked the officials to coordinate with 8 other related Ministries which are involved in restoration of land degradation.

During the event the Union Minister also released Forest Stewardship Council’s Forest Stewardship Standard for India.

“This India-specific, voluntary forest management standard will give impetus to third-party auditing of forest owners for various principles, criteria and indicators” said the statement.

“Forest certification is an important tool to combat desertification and promote forest sustainability. FSC forest certification will support Atmanirbhar Bharat goals and country’s efforts towards meeting our international commitments under SDGs, CBD, UNCCD, UNFCCC and Bonn Challenge” said the ministry.

This year, the theme for World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is – Rising up from drought together. The day highlights the need of an early measure to avoid any disastrous consequences for humanity and the planetary ecosystems.

India hosted the 14th session of Conference of parties (COP 14) of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in September 2019 and recommendations of the Inter-Governmental working group report on Drought in COP-15.