New Delhi: Land restoration is an established national priority for India and is integral to the country’s efforts toward sustainable land management, biodiversity conservation, climate action, and rural development, Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav said on Monday. He was speaking at the 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
At a side event organised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Yadav said India views restoration not as a standalone intervention, but as an “essential component of sustainable and resilient development.”
“In 2015, India made an initial commitment to restore degraded and deforested land, which was subsequently enhanced to 26 million hectares by 2030. This commitment reflects both the scale of the challenge and India’s confidence in its national capacity to deliver restoration at scale,” the minister said in his address.
The 17th edition of COP of UNCCD is currently being hosted by Mongolia in its capital city, Ulaanbaatar — from 17 to 28 August— under the theme, ‘Restoring Land. Restoring Hope.’
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India’s gains in land restoration
Highlighting the recent release of India’s Second Progress Report on the Bonn Challenge, covering the period 2011 to 2020, Yadav said India was able to bring 21.76 million hectares of land under restoration, supported by significant convergent financial flows, while generating approximately 1.22 billion person-days of employment.
He said that the assessment captured restoration across forests, agriculture, soil, and water conservation and other land-use systems, recognising that restoration must respond to the ecological and socio-economic characteristics of each landscape.
The minister said these figures demonstrate that restoration can deliver “both environmental and socio-economic outcomes by reviving degraded landscapes while creating employment and supporting rural livelihoods.”
Yadav said in his statement that India was undertaking the next reporting cycle for 2021-25, with Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Land Management and IUCN.
“This cycle will focus on three key dimensions, area restored, financial flows and employment generated, while strengthening the national evidence base for restoration. The credibility of any commitment ultimately rests on implementation. India has therefore developed a multi-sectoral and landscape-based approach to translating this ambition into action,” the statement read.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)