BENGALURU: The first G20 working group meeting on environment and climate change sustainability under the Indian presidency on Thursday resolved to achieve 50% reduction in degraded land by 2040 and discussed the possibilities of ecological restoration of land hit by mining and other activities.
The delegates pledged to protect areas prone to forest fires with the latest technology and involvement of local communities. Referring to the best practices shared by member-countries during the first day of the G20 working group meeting in Bengaluru, R Raghu Prasad, inspector general of forests, ministry of environment, forest and climate change, said India wants to continue with what had been decided in the previous G20 meetings and to enhance capacities of member-countries to achieve 50% reduction in the degraded land by 2040.
Chandra Prakash Goyal, director general of forests and special secretary in the ministry, said the 2040 target is the global target too since the G20 countries collectively account for 80% of the global tree cover.
"G20 countries deal with economic, financial, social and environmental issues. But this is the first G20 presidency (helmed by India) where this aspect of land degradation and other environmental issues has been taken up as a separate working group," Goyal said.
Recalling India's global commitment on the issue earlier, Prasad elaborated, "India is already committed to restoring 26 million hectares of land by 2030 and ensure 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide sequestration by 2030. We have been highlighting it on several global platforms."
Acknowledging that restoring biodiversity is a challenge, Prasad said, "Once opened areas for mining and allied activities would have undergone physical, biological, chemical and socioeconomic changes. We will discuss how such areas can be restored to their original conditions. India and some other countries have been trying to restore greenery in those areas; we are looking at bringing back biodiversity in the mined-up areas."
Prasad said, "Nearly 81% of the tree loss in the five G20 countries is due to forest fire. Hence, this is a significant topic under India's presidency. Some 23% of India's forests are prone to forest fire. We've recorded losses of 2% due to forest-fire incidents. India is keen on understanding the process of estimating forest fire degraded area and estimation of losses. We will exchange information on these aspects."
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