India's Land Restoration Commitments at UNCCD COP17 (Environment)
India's Land Restoration Commitments at UNCCD COP17 (Environment)
Why In News:
India highlighted its land-restoration priorities at the 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
India’s Land-Restoration Commitments at UNCCD COP17
* At UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, India reaffirmed its commitment to large-scale land restoration and drought resilience, highlighting restoration as an investment in food, water, biodiversity, livelihoods and long-term resilience.
* India called for diversified, adequate, predictable and sustained international finance for land restoration and drought resilience, while emphasising that international finance should complement, not substitute, domestic efforts.
* India showcased its blended green-finance framework, including Sovereign Green Bonds, Green Credit Programme and compensatory afforestation funds, to mobilise public and private resources for restoration.
About UNCCD
The UNCCD is one of the three Rio Conventions, alongside the UNFCCC and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
It was adopted in 1994 to combat desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD), particularly in regions vulnerable to severe land degradation.
It is headquartered in Bonn, Germany and Conference of Parties (COP) serves as its principal decision-making forum.
India's nodal ministry for implementing UNCCD commitments is the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
India and Land Restoration
India has reported restoration of approximately 21.76 million hectares of degraded land during 2011–2020, highlighting the scale of its land-restoration efforts.
India hosted UNCCD COP14 in New Delhi in 2019 and committed to restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.
As per the Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India, nearly 30% of India's geographical area has been assessed as affected by land degradation and desertification, underlining the significance of restoration efforts.
Key Facts for Prelims
1. Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN)
LDN is a central UNCCD framework aimed at maintaining or increasing the quantity and quality of healthy and productive land resources over time.
It is closely linked with SDG 15, which calls for combating desertification, restoring degraded land and achieving land degradation neutrality by 2030.
India's land-restoration efforts therefore contribute simultaneously to biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods.
2. Bonn Challenge and India's Restoration Commitments
The Bonn Challenge, launched in 2011, is a global voluntary initiative to bring 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested landscapes under restoration by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030.
India is a participant in the Bonn Challenge and has undertaken large-scale restoration through afforestation, watershed management, agroforestry and landscape restoration.
3. Monitoring and Major Indian Initiatives
The Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India, prepared by ISRO's Space Applications Centre, provides spatial information on the extent and distribution of land degradation.
Major government interventions include the National Afforestation Programme (NAP), Green India Mission (GIM), and Watershed Development Component of PMKSY (WDC-PMKSY), along with CAMPA and agroforestry initiatives.