The Centre is mulling a plan to create 1,400 km long and five km wide green belt from Gujarat to Delhi-Haryana border in a move to combat climate change and desertification.
This is on the the lines of the ‘Great Green Wall’ running through the width of Africa, from Dakar to Djibouti. The idea for the project is in the nascent stage.
The plan of creating a green belt from Porbandar to Panipat will not just help in restoring degraded land through afforestation along the Aravali hill range which spans across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi, but will also act as a barrier for dust coming from the deserts in western India and Pakistan.
The country seeks to replicate the idea of green wall as a national priority under its goal to restore 26 million ha of degraded land by 2030.
Once the clearances are accorded, the implementation will commence with degraded forest land with more stretches coming in for restoration after taking farmers and other private landholders on board.
Aravali has been identified as one of the main degraded zones to be taken up for afforestation under India’s target to restore 26 million ha of land.
Presently, the country has 96.4 million ha of degraded land which is 29.3 percent of the country’s total geographical area 328.7 million ha.