Green India Mission tackling climate change

An environmental mission in India is aiming to respond to climate change in the forest sector through adaptation, mitigation, vulnerability assessment and ecosystem services, and further aims to take a broader approach to address forest degradation while supporting communities and peoples livelihoods.

Nagaland state in north-east India is vulnerable to climate changes as per studies conducted by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the Composite Forest Vulnerability Index (CFVI) shows that significant proportions of the forests in Nagaland are vulnerable to climate change risks.

In this regard, two most vulnerable districts in Nagaland – Mon and Mokokchung – have been identified for implementation of the Green India Mission (GIM) project covering 12 villages.

Addressing the State Level Workshop on ‘Green India Mission’ at Hotel Japfü, Commissioner and Secretary for Forests, Ecology, Environment and Wildlife Amardeep Bhatia impressed that Nagaland has sufficient forest area but asserted that the need here is to improve the quality of the forest, which is as important as expanding areas under forest. Pointing out that 88 per cent of the forests in Nagaland are owned by the communities, he said the roles are reversed here since communities work in government owned forests in the rest of the country.

Further pointing out that it is not forestry alone, he said the objectives are to improve the income of the forest dependent villagers. In this regard, he underlined the need to work with the people to harness and improve the quality at one go by simultaneously providing scientific knowledge to the villagers. He also said our agricultural practices are basically related to forests while stating that agriculture and forest are converged together.

Referring to several indications of climate change in the State including rivers drying up, erratic monsoons and the need to cultivate at a higher level, the Commissioner Secretary said the State Government as well as the Government of India has rightly decided that intervention is needed.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Dr CL Goel expressed hope that the department would lead the mission activities and progress will be made through the coordination of the department.