Revised Green India Mission

Context (IE): The Centre released a revised roadmap for the National Mission for Green India, also known as the Green India Mission (GIM).
In addition to the core objective of GIM, the revised mission will focus on restoration in the Aravalli ranges, Western Ghats, Himalayas and mangroves.

About Green India Mission

The Green India Mission (GIM) is a crucial component of India’s efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change. It was rolled out in 2014 as one of the eight missions under India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
Its core aim is to combat climate change by increasing forest and tree cover, as well as the ecological restoration of degraded ecosystems and forests.

Between 2015-16 and 2020-21, the GIM facilitated tree plantation and afforestation activities across 11.22 million hectares (mha) of land, through central and state schemes.

Financial Outlay: The total Mission cost is estimated as Rs 12,190 crores.
Time Period: 10 years (2021-30).
Implementation: Joint Forest Management Committees, with further management & coordination vested with Forest Development Agencies, State Forest Development Agencies & Mission Directorate.
Bottom-up Approach: The Mission would follow a ‘Bottom-up’ model to strengthen the decentralized governance and management of its interventions.

The Mission costs will be met partly from the budget under the ongoing Green India Mission scheme and balance from funds available under the National Fund of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).

Improved quality of forest cover and increased forest and tree cover on forest/non-forest lands
Improved ecosystem services, including biodiversity, hydrological services and carbon sequestration
Increased forest-based livelihoods and household income of forest dependent communities living in and around the forests.
Creation of an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3.0 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030.

Restoration/Reclamation Forestry: This focuses on reclaiming vulnerable habitats and degraded forest and non-forest areas using region-specific eco-restoration models, such as agroforestry & social forestry.
MicroEcosystem Approach will be adopted to focus on identifying intervention pockets in highly vulnerable landscapes, such as the Aravallis, Western Ghats, and Arid regions of Northwest India, through regionally conducive best practices.
Livelihood Improvement Training Centres will enhance the traditional and acquired skills of communities for processing, packaging, and marketing forest products.
Sustainable Livelihood Enhancement Models will be promoted to enable them to diversify the income-generating activities of forest-dependent communities.
Non-Timber Forest Produce Processing Centres will function as a single-window source to address skill development, procurement, processing, packaging, and marketing for value chain enhancement.
Reducing the gap between research and field practices by strengthening the State Forest research wings with the support and coordination of research institutions through the ‘Lab to field’ approach.