Lok Sabha Question No. 2828 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-07
Subject: Land Degradation and Desertification
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Chandra Sekhar Bellana, Sanjeev Kumar Singari, S. Ramalingam

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTIO N NO. 2828

TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.08.2023

## Land Degradation and Desertification

## 2828. SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR BELLANA: DR. SANJEEV KUMAR SINGARI: SHRI RAMALINGAM S.:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  issue  of  land  degradation  needs  urgent attention;
- (b) if so, the steps taken to tackle the issue of land degradation and desertification;
- (c) the progress made under the Bonn Challenge pledge to bring 13 million hectares of degraded land under restoration by 2020;
- (d) the  details  of  measure  taken  by  the  Government  to  reserve  land  degradation  and deforestation in the areas of coastal districts of the Cauvery delta region especially in Thanjavur, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam districts; and
- (e) whether the Government has signed any MoU with any NGO to tackle the issue of land degradation, if so, the details thereof and subsequent action thereof?

## ANSWER

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

- (a)to(c)    In  consonance  with  National  Forest  Policy  (NFP),  1988  that  envisages  the  national goal to have a minimum of one- third of the total land area under forest or tree cover, the Ministry has been taking several initiatives through various afforestation related schemes implemented by ministry and other ministries which aim at increasing and improving forest and tree cover and thereby combating desertification. The Ministry supports the States/Union Territories for carrying out various afforestation activities through Centrally Sponsored Scheme for conservation, development and promotion of forests under its major schemes namely, National Mission for a Green India (GIM) and Forest Fire Protection & Management Scheme (FFPM). Compensatory afforestation  under  CAMPA has also  been  used  to increase forest cover across  the country. State Governments also implement various schemes for tree plantation/afforestation.

Further, the  promotional measures are being implemented through a Central  Sector Scheme under National Coastal Mission Programme on 'Conservation and Management  of  Mangroves  and  Coral  Reefs'.  Under  this  programme,  annual Management Action Plan (MAP) for conservation and management of mangroves are formulated and implemented in all the coastal States and Union Territories.

The Government has undertaken a number of measures to combat land degradation and desertification in the country. These are as follows:

- (i) Desertification  and  Land  Degradation Atlas of India, published  by Space Applications Centre (SAC) Indian Space Research Organisation, Ahmedabad, which provides the extent of land degradation and desertification in India, states that the land degradation and desertification in the country has been estimated to be 97.84 million hectares in 2018-19. It  provides  state-wise  area  of  degraded  land  which is helpful  in planning and implementation of schemes aimed at restoration of land by providing important data and technical inputs.
- (ii) An online  portal  has  been  developed  with  the  help  of  Space  Application Center(SAC), Ahmedabad for visualization of degraded area of land with the processes causing degradation.
- (iii) A  Centre  of  Excellence  has  been  envisaged  at  the  Indian  Council  for Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) Dehradun for enhanced SouthSouth  Cooperation.  It  aims  at  knowledge  sharing,  promotion  of  best practices, sharing of India's experiences with cost-effective and sustainable land  management strategies,  developing  ideas  for  transformative  projects and programs and capacity building.
- (iv) International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) - India, has been assigned  for  reporting  India's  progress  on  achieving  Bonn  Challenge target.

At  the  United  Nations  Framework  Convention  on  Climate  Change  (UNFCCC) Conference  of  the  Parties  (COP),  2015  in  Paris,  India  joined  the  voluntary  Bonn Challenge pledge to bring into restoration 13 million hectares (mha) of degraded and deforested  land  by  the  year  2020,  and  additional  8  mha  by  2030.  This  pledge  to restore of 21 m.ha by 2030 has been increased to 26 mha, during the COP14 to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in 2019.

The  area  of  land  covered  through  afforestation  is  reported  under  the  Twenty  Point Programme, which is approximately 18.94 million hectares during the period 201112 to 2021-22. This includes the afforestation achievements under concerted efforts of the State Governments through various central and state specific schemes.

- (d) As informed by Tamil Nadu state, the Rehabilitation of Coastal habitat through the formation of bio shield is being implemented for three years (2023-24 to 2025-26) in  all  coastal  districts  of  Tamil  Nadu  including  the  districts  such  as  Thanjavur, Mayiladuthurai and Nagapattinam, wherein the eco-restoration of existing Mangroves ecosystem to an extent of 11.25 Sq.km and new planting of mangrove to an extent 3.28 Sq.km has been envisaged. Further, the tree species which act as bio shield such as Casuarinas, Cashew, Mangrove spp, Palmyrah and other specialized species are being raised in these districts for planting as part of massive afforestation initiative.  The  training,  awareness,  local  community  involvement  is  also  being carried out as part of this scheme.
- (e) The  Ministry  has  not  signed  any  MoU  with  any  NGO  to  tackle  the  issue  of  land degradation.    However,  tree  Plantation/Afforestation  being  multi  departmental activity  are  also  taken  up  cross-sectorally  by  various  Departments,  NGOs,  Civil Society,  Corporate  bodies  etc.  under  various  Central  and  State  Plan/Non  Plan Schemes.