Restoring 26 million hectares of degraded lands, no mean task

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the high level ministerial segment at the 14^th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Noida near New Delhi on Monday 9^th September 2019: Photo credit: Angeles Estrada IISDENB

By Malini Shankar, Digital Discourse Foundation New Delhi: 9.09.19

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called for urgent political action to boost ground water conservation and replenishment while addressing the high level ministerial segment at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification’s (UNCCD) 14^th Conference of Parties in Noida near New Delhi today.

Mr. Modi pledged to restore an additional five million hectares of degraded land in India by 2030, raising the land to be restored in India to 26 million hectares. The pledge to restore degraded lands is part of India’s commitment to achieve land degradation neutrality, a flagship initiative under the UNCCD. The increase in forest or green cover, - it is envisaged - will sequester Carbon emissions so urgently needed to stall global warming to 2⁰ C only.  

To date, 122 of the 170 countries affected by land degradation have committed to achieve land degradation neutrality. But India needs to restore two billion hectares of degraded lands to achieve the target of 33% forest cover for a landmass the size of India and to feed her populace sustainably, to achieve the goals of sustainable, horizontal, inclusive economic growth.   

India’s environment Minister Prakash Javedekar is on record stating that in the last five years of Mr. Modi’s governance India’s green cover has increased to 24% of the landmass and that another 15000 square kilometres (of green cover) has recently been added.

Even as I write this copy a news release just released by New York Declaration on Forests Assessment Partners states rather depressingly that "In the midst of devastating forest fires worldwide and in advance of the UN Climate Summit on September 23, a new report by 25 civil society organizations and research institutions reveal that little progress has been made in achieving the New York Declaration on Forest’s ten goals, the most critical of which are ending deforestation and ramping up restoration--both critical to a livable climate". The audio briefing and report will be released on 12th September. So watch this space for further updates.  

Thus India’s pledge to restore a total of 26 million hectares by 2030 is 1/8th of the target on hand. Urgent political will is needed to comply with such Climate Change Mitigation targets to help India restore water security, and achieve emission reduction targets. Identifying such degraded land risks the personal security of inspectors… such is the menacing power of the land mafia in India.

Among the two billion hectares of land in India that are to be restored are actually large areas of encroached lands with forest cover in India that have been pillaged, encroached, denied conservation, subject to denigration, neglect and certified rather contemptuously as “C and D grade lands” with forest cover; such denigrated lands have been handed over to the revenue administration of the Government from the Forest Department’s control. The story is similar all over India and quite likely in all emerging economies with rather weak democratic credentials.  

Restoring such land is not as easy as planting up monoculture plantations, rather they need painful efforts at resorting soil conservation through water shed management, rain water harvesting, catchment area augmentation and conservation, documentation of micro climatic conditions over decades ecological succession through grassland farming, horticulture production, even before attempting restoration of soil and forest cover.  Horticulture farming in rural areas will help mitigate rural malnutrition, offer food security to people below the poverty line, offer employment opportunities to meek and marginialised, prevent farmer suicides, add green cover and restore ground water table.

There are success stories to be emulated. Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district was notified as Desertified area in 1994. Non-Governmental Organisations working in the fields of rural development were funded and empowered – with political will - to take up ground water replenishment on a war footing. With very intense ground work NGOs like Social Education and Development Society in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh - https://sedsngo.org/ - and Rural Development Trust - https://rdtfvf.org/ - as well as the state apparatus have shown results not just in replenishing ground water table from a depth of 60 metres below ground to 4 metres below ground that too on a hill top. They have successfully integrated green farming with ecological sustainability and have offered livelihood security to meek n marginalised, integrated outcasts with landed chauvinistic aristocracy in a very caste and class conscious rural society.

SEDS was surprised to strike water just below the surface on a hill top in arid Anantapur. Photo credit: Rajan Joshua SEDS.

Monoculture plantations – responsible for ground water depletion were done away with in favour of diverse cropping on rotational basis yielded results. Check dams, contour bunding, rain water harvesting and watershed management , soil conservation were taken up on a war footing.   

To succeed in only replenishment of ground water table, multi-sectoral interventions are needed – from sustainable agriculture to universal literacy, education, livelihood security options, food security, restoration of soil nutrition (green farming) climate neutral agricultural interventions, access to health, hygiene, mitigating rural malnutrition, water and energy security and so on. Success stories such as in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur being scaled up to India’s 607 districts is certainly not easy. Announcements and pledges are the easier bits.