New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI) The Centre plans to restore degraded ecosystems and land across more than eight lakh hectares of reserved forest in the first phase of its ambitious Aravalli Green Wall project, which aims to create a green buffer around the Aravalli mountain range in northwest India.
According to the detailed action plan for Aravalli restoration, the government is likely to spend an estimated Rs 16,053 crore in the first phase.
Stretching 700 kilometres from Gujarat to Delhi, the Aravalli range acts as a natural barrier against desertification, preventing the expansion of the Thar desert and protecting cities such as Delhi, Jaipur and Gurugram.
The Aravallis, India’s oldest mountain range, are the source of important rivers such as the Chambal, Sabarmati and the Luni. Its forests, grasslands and wetlands support endangered plant and animal species.
However, deforestation, mining, livestock grazing and human encroachment are worsening desertification, damaging aquifers, drying up lakes and reducing the range’s ability to sustain wildlife.
To tackle these issues, the government launched the Aravalli Green Wall initiative in March 2023. The project aims to establish a five-kilometre-wide green belt buffer, covering 6.45 million hectares across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi.
Within this buffer zone, about 42 per cent (2.70 million hectares) of land is degraded.
Of the total degraded area, 81 per cent is 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.
Rajasthan’s Udaipur district has the highest degraded area within the buffer zone (0.675 million hectares), which is more than the combined degraded area of Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat (0.568 million hectares).
In the first phase of the project, 8,16,732 hectares of recorded forest area will be restored. This includes 3,010 hectares in Delhi, 5,677 hectares in Gujarat, 3,812 hectares in Haryana, and 99,952 hectares in Rajasthan. The total budget for this phase is Rs 16,053 crore.
This initiative will be crucial in meeting India’s climate goal of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent and restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030, according to the central government. PTI GVS GVS SZM SZM
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