Director General’s Message
Global climate change is a threat having perceptible and tangible impacts upon human beings and nature. The role of forests in maintaining ecological balance, environmental stability, sustainable development and the ecosystem services provided by forests are well known. Forests are now integral part of international protocols dealing with climate change mitigation. Responding to global call for nationally appropriate mitigation actions, Government of India released its National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC) with eight National Missions. Green India Mission is one of the flagship missions under NAPCC.
The World Bank supported Ecosystem Services Improvement Project (ESIP) is supporting Green India Mission (GIM) in states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The ESIP is supporting the goals of GIM by demonstrating models for adaptation-based mitigation through sustainable land and ecosystem management and livelihood benefits. ESIP, in many ways, brings a new and novel approach to address some of the challenges in sustainable management of ecosystems and land. It is introducing new tools and technologies for better management of natural resources, including biodiversity and forest carbon stocks, and restoration of degraded lands. The pilot in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh will help to demonstrate the potential for nationwide scaling up of the ESIP and will directly support India’s Nationally Determined Contribution. Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) is one of the project implementing agencies for the ESIP and implementing the activities related to forest carbon stocks measurement, monitoring and capacity building, and scaling up sustainable land and ecosystem management practices.
ICFRE is proactive in the field of restoration of degraded forest lands and developed restoration models for limestone mined out areas, coal mined out areas, rock phosphate mined out areas, masonry stone mined out areas, iron & uranium mined out areas, landslide stabilization and sodic soil restoration etc. Developed high yielding verities and clones of agroforestry species like Poplar, Eucalyptus, Casuarina, Melia etc. and also developed agro-forestry models to suit different eco-climatic zones with combination of different crops and tree species. ICFRE successfully executed Sustainable Land and Ecosystem Management Project as a Technical Facilitation Organisation under Sustainable Land and Ecosystem Management-Country Partnership Programme from 2009 to 2014. Keeping in view the expertise of ICFRE, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi while addressing the High-Level Segment of COP 14 of UNCCD at Delhi NCR on 9 September 2019 made an announcement to set up a Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Land Management at ICFRE in order to further develop scientific approach and facilitate induction of technology on land degradation issues. The main role of the Centre of Excellence would be to share knowledge and technology amongst developing countries Parties of UNCCD to arrest further land degradation and restoration of degraded lands aiming at conservation of biodiversity, food and water security, support livelihoods along with maintaining the flow of ecosystem goods and services for posterity. The Centre envisages South-South Cooperation to enable India to share its experiences on sustainable land management with other country Parties.
I hope the National Reporting Database Portal developed under ESIP provides a platform for facilitating the national reporting to UNCCD Secretariat with inputs from the line ministries, departments, organisations and other stakeholders. The portal also provide an overview of the activities being implemented under ESIP and also act as a knowledge dissemination platform on scaling up of SLEM practices. I would like to request the users of NRDP to communicate their views to make the portal more user friendly and effective.
Arun Singh Rawat, IFS
Director General, ICFRE