Lok Sabha Question No. 2054 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-14
Subject: Glasgow Declaration on Climate Change
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Achyutananda Samanta, Rajendra Agrawal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 2054

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 14.03.2022

## Glasgow Declaration on Climate Change

## 2054.   SHRI ACHYUTANANDA SAMANTA: SHRI  RAJENDRA AGRAWAL:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  India  is  aiming  to  create  carbon  sink  of  2.5  billion  to  3  billion  tonnes  of carbon dioxide equivalent through forest and tree cover by the year 2030;
- (b) if  so,  the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  achieve  the  goal  along  with  the present status;
- (c) the  reasons  for  the  refusal  to  endorse  the  recent  Glasgow  Declaration  on  Climate Change  which  aims  to  halt  and  reverse  deforestation  and  land  degradation  by 2030;
- (d) the  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  address  the  effects  of  rampant deforestation  and  encourage  afforestation  practices  in  view  of  losing  more  than 19.3-lakh hectares of tree cover between the years 2001-2020, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (e) the environmental agreements that India is committed to fulsfill till 2035; and
- (f) whether India is behind on achieving any international environmental agreements?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a) & (b)  India is committed to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent  through  additional  forest  and  tree  cover  by  2030  as  per  Nationally Determined  Contribution  (NDC)  under  Paris  Agreement.  India  is  on  track  to  meet Nationally  Determined  Contributions  (NDC)  targets  under  Paris  Agreement.  The Forest  Survey  of  India  estimates  carbon  stock  of  forest  by  using  National  Forest Inventory data collected during forest inventory and forest cover area following the guidelines  given  by  United  Nation  Framework  Convention  on  Climate  Change (UNFCCC). The carbon stock for 2021 has been estimated to be 7204 million tones which is 79.4 million tonnes more than the assessment of 2019. Thus annual increase is 39.7 million tonnes, which is 145.6 million tonnes CO2 equivalent.

In totality, India has already achieved 1.97 billion tonnes of additional carbon sink as compared to the base year of 2005.

The  remaining  target  can  be  achieved  by  increasing  forest  and  tree  cover  of  the country through implementation of various Central and State sponsored schemes. The Central Government schemes are mainly comprised of Green India Mission (GIM), National Afforestation Programme (NAP), Compensatory Afforestation Funds under

Compensatory Afforestation  Fund  Management  and  Planning  Authority ( CAMPA), afforestation activities under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme  (MGNREGA),  Green  Highway  Policy  2015,  Policy  for  enhancement  of Urban  Greens,  National  Agro-forestry  Policy  and  Sub-mission  on  Agro-forestry (SMAF), National Bamboo Mission and National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture.  In  addition  to  above,  State  and  UT  Governments  have  their  own afforestation  and  reforestation  programmes.  Almost  every  State  has  activities  under social forestry, which largely focuses on tree planting in the areas outside forests.

- (c) India has not endorsed the said declaration, due to reference to trade as an area in the Glasgow Declaration on Forests and Land Use in November 2021.
- (d) Various schemes are being implemented by the Central and State Government/Union Territory  Administration for increase in forest and tree  cover in the  country.  These include the National Afforestation Programme (NAP) and Green India Mission (GIM) being  implemented  by  the  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change. Afforestation activities are also taken up under various programmes/funding sources such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Compensatory Afforestation Funds under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).

Afforestation activities are also taken up under various schemes of State Government /UT Administration.  National Mission for a Green India (GIM) is one of the ongoing Missions  outlined  under  the  National  Action  Plan  on  Climate  Change.  It  aims  at protecting,  restoring,  and  enhancing  India's  forest  cover  and  responding  to  Climate Change through plantation activities in the forest and non-forest areas.

- (e) India submitted its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) under Paris Agreement to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). One of the goals under NDC is to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to  3  billion  tonnes  of  CO  2  equivalent  through  additional  forest  and  tree  cover  by 2030. Further, India, as a part of the National Statement delivered at the 26th Session of the Conference of Parties (COP-26) to UNFCCC in Glasgow, United Kingdom in November 2021, has made the following further announcements:-
- (i) India's non-fossil energy capacity to reach 500 GW by 2030.
- (ii)  India will meet 50 percent of its energy requirements with renewable energy by 2030.
- (iii) India will reduce its total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now to 2030.
- (iv) India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 45 per cent by 2030, over 2005 levels.
- (v) By 2070, India will achieve the target of net-zero emissions.
- (f) India is not behind on achieving any international environmental agreement.

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