Govt Restored Thousands of Hectares in Aravallis: Bhupender Yadav

Thousands of hectares in the Aravalli region have been restored in the last two to three years, according to Union Minister for Environment Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday. The government is still dedicated to carrying out this effort with the environment at the core of development.

These remarks were given by the minister during his first speech at the "National Conference on Eco-restoration of the Aravalli Landscape: Strengthening the Aravalli Green Wall.

"The government is committed to the restoration and conservation of the Aravallis and similar ecosystems across the country. Thousands of hectares in the Aravalli region have been restored in the last two to three years, and the government remains committed to continuing this work with ecology at the centre of development," he said.

Yadav said the government launched the Aravalli Green Wall Project as part of India's commitment under the UNCCD to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.

"Under this initiative, 6.45 million hectares of degraded land in the Aravalli region have been identified, with greening work initiated over 2.7 million hectares across Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan. Divisional forest officers from 29 Aravalli districts are implementing the project, focusing on plantations of native species suited to arid and semi-arid conditions," the minister said.

The comments by the minister come weeks after a controversy on the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) recommending a change in the definition of the Aravalli hills and ranges to protect the world's oldest mountain system in October this year. On December 29, the Supreme Court placed the decision in abeyance despite having adopted the recommendations in November.

Recalling a conservation ruling, Yadav stated that approximately 97 square kilometres of severely degraded Aravalli revenue land, which stretches from Naurangpur to Nuh in Haryana, has been designated for afforestation and has also been designated as a protected forest by Haryana for improved management and protection.

The minister described it as a major policy intervention to protect and afforest the Aravallis after Independence.

Highlighting the ecological and historical importance of the region, Yadav said the Aravallis are the country's oldest mountain range and have sheltered human civilisation for thousands of years.

"The Aravalli ecosystem is protected by four tiger reserves and 18 protected areas, while additional green interventions are being undertaken wherever required. India has taken global leadership in wildlife conservation, and the country is home to five of the world's seven big cat species and nearly 70 per cent of the global tiger population, which continues to grow," he said.

Policymakers, forest officials, experts, practitioners, and representatives of civil society gathered for the conference to discuss the Aravalli range's ecological significance and potential restoration strategies.

During the first session, Yadav also presented a paper called "Eco-restoration of the Aravalli Landscape," which was created by the Sankala Foundation.

A scientific, community-driven, and scalable framework to support the ministry's "Aravalli Green Wall Project" under the National Action Plan to Combat Desertification and Land Degradation was presented in the conference report.

It highlights the need for landscape-scale, data-driven, community-anchored, and multidisciplinary restoration efforts, pointing out that given the extent of degradation and ecological stresses in the area, individual interventions are no longer sufficient.