The Government of India is devising a plan to build a 1,400 km long corridor of greenery named ‘Green Wall of India’ from Gujarat to the Delhi-Haryana border. The idea for this proposed mega reforestation project is based on Africa’s flagship initiative to combat climate change and land degradation – ‘The Great Green Wall of Africa’.
The African project was envisioned to run from Djibouti in the continent’s east to Senegal in its west, but it has fallen short of its targets due to a lack of coordination among the countries involved. Hopefully, the ‘Green Wall of India’ will succeed in making India a pioneer in sustainable initiatives.
While this plan to create the ‘Great Green Wall of India’ is only at a premature stage, it is expected to replenish the green cover along the Aravalli Hill Range, which runs through Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat. If the proposed numbers are to be believed, the ‘Green Wall’ will run 1,400km long and 5km wide along the Aravalli range from Panipat to Porbandar.
Reportedly, this idea came up after a 2016 ISRO report that acknowledged that more than 50% of the land in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Haryana had been degraded and desertification is expanding. The Aravalli Hill Range acts as a barrier for the Thar Desert from expanding into the green Gangetic Plains.
This project could act as both an afforestation measure and also a natural blockade against the heat and sand that blows in from the desert, thereby preventing desertification. If all the aspects of this plan are worked out, the government is estimating to revive 26 million hectares out of the total 96.4 million hectares of degraded land in India by 2030.
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Date: 15.10.2019 | Source: Live Mint
