CB BureauOne can hope to see increased forest cover and enhanced ecosystem services in the country as the draft of the ambitious green mission is expected to be ready by the end of this month.
‘The draft document for the mission will be finalized this month and submitted to the Prime Minister,’ Union Environment and
Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh told NGOs at the sixth public consultation organized to discuss the plan at Indian Forest Management Institute in Bhopal.
National Mission for Green India aims to increase the forest cover by 10 million hectares by 2020 and enhance ecosystem services at an estimated cost of Rs 44,000 crore.
The seventh and the last public consultation on the draft will take place at Mysore on July 12.
‘The pilot project on the mission is likely to take off in the next couple of months and will go on for around two years,’ the minister said. He agreed that although de-greening cannot be stopped completely in the country, there was room to put a check on it.
The mission is one of the eight missions of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) unveiled by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year, committing to combat challenges of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions.