Forest landscape restoration - Paris Climate Agreement

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  Forest landscape restoration - Paris Climate Agreement

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• India's commitment on forests: In the United Nations Biodiversity Summit held on October 1 2020 Environment Minister reiterated India’s commitment to restore 26 million hectares of land by 2030. 
• The pledge: Forest landscape restoration is a process of restoring the  ecological integrity , improving the productivity and economic value of degraded forest landscapes. The Article 5 in the 2015 Paris Agreement urges countries to act on deforestation and forest degradation for enhancing sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases. 

1. The Government of Germany and IUCN  launched  voluntary Bonn Challenge in 2011 with the target of restore 150 mha of degraded and deforested landscapes by 2020 and 350 mha by 2030.
2. India joined the Bonn Challenge in 2015 with a pledge to restore 21 mha of degraded and deforested land & raised it to 26 mha by 2030.
3. India’s NDC targets to create  an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent from additional forest and tree cover until 2030.

• Ambiguities in implementing FLR: There are no proper standard documents to arrive at common definitions, figures and methods on FLR in India. The Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas (2016) by Space Applications Centre (SAC), ISRO, says almost  96.4 m ha of India’s geographical area are undergoing the process of desertification/land degradation. The Forest Survey of India’s (FSI) reports identifies 63 m ha of potential areas for restoration. However, remote sensing-based area delineation can only point towards potential areas for FLR. Another concern is around establishing a baseline for FLR - whether 2011, the year when the Bonn Challenge was launched or 2015 when India made the Bonn Challenge pledge should be considered.
• Bonn Challenge: The Bonn Challenge Consultative Committee is constituted to guide the progress and achievements in respect of commitments under the Bonn Challenge. 
• How to effectively implement FLR initiatives: There is a need for monitoring and reporting with correct data by utilising existing national monitoring frameworks(Green India Mission ) to benefit from restoration. The Existing Institutions - Joint Forest Management, the Forest Protection Committee, Van Panchayats and Gram Sabhas - should bring stakeholders together. To ensure permanent restoration, stakeholders participation and sharing of responsibilities are required. 
• Three objectives of restoration: First, managing forests for water which includes enhancing groundwater recharge as well as maintaining surface flows and sub-surface flow in rivers and springs. Second, ensuring carbon sink creation. Third, managing forests to ensure livelihood and sustenance of millions of people dependent on forest. These three are necessary for India to achieve forest related national and international commitments.
• Knowledge centre:

1. Paris Climate Agreement - The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.
2. UNFCCC - One of the three Rio Conventions, the UNFCCC's ultimate objective is to achieve the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous inteference with the climate system. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty signed by 154 states at the Earth Summit, Rio de Janeiro, June 1992. 
3. Bonn Challenge - The Bonn Challenge is a global effort to restore 150 million hectares of the world's degraded and deforested lands by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030. The Bonn challenge will address the issue of economic security, water security, food security and climate change.
4. Forest Survey of India report - The report is published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), mandated to assess the forest and tree resources of the country including wall-to-wall forest cover mapping in a biennial cycle. 

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