The GREEN MOVEMENT is a diverse movement that forwards the concerns of environmentalists, that is, persons who see the integrity of the non-human world as worthy of preservation both for its own sake and for the sake of human survival.
Our Mission is one of the eight Missions under India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change, announced by the government. We wish to pursue to redouble our efforts in the Agriculture Sector, forestry sector, Green Wealth Sector and water resources sectors. The overarching objective is to increase forest/tree cover in barren lands and improve qualities of forest cover. Thus, the Mission will help in improving ecosystem services to the flora and fauna of India from extinction ,which also ensures employment to youths and livelihood to farmers.
Approach that is innovative in several ways:
First, it proposes a fundamental shift in mindset from our traditional focus of merely increasing the quantity of our forest cover, towards increasing the quality of our forest cover and improving provision of ecosystem services. Second, the Mission proposes to take a holistic view of greening, not merely focus on plantations to meet carbon sequestration targets. There is a clear focus on enhancing biodiversity, restoring ecosystems and habitat diversity. Third, there is a deliberate and major focus on autonomy and decentralization.
Mission Implementation
The Mission will be implemented through an autonomous organizational structure reducing redtape and rigidity, while ensuring accountability. Local communities will be at the heart of Implementation, with the Green Movement members with overarching institutions, organizations, companies, volunteers ,NGO’S,Etc.. in overseeing the Mission implementation at every district and village-level. We cannot forget that forests are the source of livelihood for about 275 million people in our country, and hence their central participation is critical. A key innovation is the idea of engaging a cadre of young “Community Foresters”, most of whom will be from schools and colleges to facilitate planning, implementation and monitoring of activities at local level under the guidance of Green Movement .
Tackle the De - Greening
I want to also briefly mention that the important issue of “de-greening” was repeatedly raised in the public consultations. This is a broad, but very important issue; and while it is not directly addressed in the Green Movement document, it is a high priority for us, and one that we will tackle with all the resources and policy and legislative tools at our disposal. There is no point in launching a “Green India Mission” if we do not act forcefully and decisively to reverse the trend of deforestation and de-greening. And replacing forests with plantations is not the panacea.
Lastly
I would like to thank our team who has been working on the Mission document and look forward to taking this to implementation.
The GREEN MOVEMENT is a diverse movement that forwards the concerns of environmentalists, that is, persons who see the integrity of the non-human world as worthy of preservation both for its own sake and for the sake of human survival.
Our Mission is one of the eight Missions under India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change, announced by the government. We wish to pursue to redouble our efforts in the Agriculture Sector, forestry sector, Green Wealth Sector and water resources sectors. The overarching objective is to increase forest/tree cover in barren lands and improve qualities of forest cover. Thus, the Mission will help in improving ecosystem services to the flora and fauna of India from extinction ,which also ensures employment to youths and livelihood to farmers.
Approach that is innovative in several ways:
First, it proposes a fundamental shift in mindset from our traditional focus of merely increasing the quantity of our forest cover, towards increasing the quality of our forest cover and improving provision of ecosystem services. Second, the Mission proposes to take a holistic view of greening, not merely focus on plantations to meet carbon sequestration targets. There is a clear focus on enhancing biodiversity, restoring ecosystems and habitat diversity. Third, there is a deliberate and major focus on autonomy and decentralization.
Mission Implementation
The Mission will be implemented through an autonomous organizational structure reducing redtape and rigidity, while ensuring accountability. Local communities will be at the heart of Implementation, with the Green Movement members with overarching institutions, organizations, companies, volunteers ,NGO’S,Etc.. in overseeing the Mission implementation at every district and village-level. We cannot forget that forests are the source of livelihood for about 275 million people in our country, and hence their central participation is critical. A key innovation is the idea of engaging a cadre of young “Community Foresters”, most of whom will be from schools and colleges to facilitate planning, implementation and monitoring of activities at local level under the guidance of Green Movement .
Tackle the De - Greening
I want to also briefly mention that the important issue of “de-greening” was repeatedly raised in the public consultations. This is a broad, but very important issue; and while it is not directly addressed in the Green Movement document, it is a high priority for us, and one that we will tackle with all the resources and policy and legislative tools at our disposal. There is no point in launching a “Green India Mission” if we do not act forcefully and decisively to reverse the trend of deforestation and de-greening. And replacing forests with plantations is not the panacea.
Lastly
I would like to thank our team who has been working on the Mission document and look forward to taking this to implementation.