In New Delhi on June 17, 2014 Environment Minister Sree Prakash Javadekar said India will become desertification neutral by 2030, adding that 32 percent of India's total land is facing the threat of desertification.
He said "In India, 69 percent of the land is dryland, and 32 percent of the land is undergoing desertification……… Land degradation is directly linked to poverty, and its reversal will provide livelihood options for thousands of people. India will be made desertification neutral by 2030".
Sree Prakash Javadekarji said integrated plan will be launched with agriculture, land resource and water ministries to address the issue, and the process of desertification of the land would be reversed by 2030. He said the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change would collaborate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Water Resources to achieve this target.
Desertification refers to the process of land degradation by which fertile land, especially dry regions, become increasingly arid, losing water bodies, vegetation and wildlife. Deforestation, drought and improper or inappropriate agriculture are typically considered to be the main causes of such land degradation. India has about 105 million hectares of land classified as dry land.
The objective of achieving land degradation neutrality is to maintain or improve the condition of land resources through the sustainable management of soil, water and biodiversity, the Honourable Minister told in the meeting on the occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification organised by the Environment Ministry and the Indian Council for Forestry Research and Education.
"In India, we are facing the problem of degradation of land, desertification of the land and creation of wasteland. All these are major challenges as it impacts the livelihood. As the (Sree Narendra) Modi government has decided that poverty eradication is the main objective of this government, to that end we must make the country degradation neutral by 2030," Sree Javadekar said.
Drawing on his experience of working on 11 watershed projects in Maharashtra, Javadekar said that desertification of land could be stopped or reversed through integrated land use planning on landscape basis and through collective efforts. Coordination among the different stakeholders was the key to achieve the goal of a land degradation neutral India. Reclaiming the waste land has a direct effect on poverty eradication and makes communities prosperous.
The government plans to take people's organisations and other stakeholders on board in addressing this challenge. "Our government does things differently. We will take people's movement, people's participation in development and environment protection...Together we can stop desertification... Together we can make India land degradation neutral," the Honourable Minister said in a series of tweets.
Land degradation neutrality is an idea that owes its origin to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) held in Rio in 2012, where member states recognised the need for urgent action to reverse land degradation. The concept also embraces the restoration of degraded natural and semi-natural ecosystems that provide vital, albeit indirect, services to people and working landscapes. India is a signatory to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which focuses on desertification, land degradation and drought.
SOME FACTS AND FIGURES ON DESERTIFICATION AND LAND DEGRADATION IN INDIA
In India, 69% of the land is dry land and 32% of the land is undergoing desertification.
The land area facing desertification threat is 81 million hectares, while 105 million hectares are dryland.
It is a type of land degradation in which a relatively dryland region becomes increasingly arid, typically losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife.
Increasing population is resulting in one-third of the country's land area becoming barren or getting desertified. Climate change and resulting disturbances such as floods also have a negative effect on the land.
Twenty-five per cent of India's total land is undergoing desertification while 32 per cent is facing degradation that has affected its productivity, critically affecting the livelihood and food security of millions across the country.
As much as 105.19 million hectares (Mha) of the country's total geographical area of 328.73 Mha is being degraded, while 82.18 Mha is undergoing desertification.
The major forms of land degradation include soil erosion (which accounts for over 71 per cent of the total degradation), and wind erosion (10.24 per cent). The other major forms of land degradation are water-logging and salinity-alkalinity.
CAUSES OF LAND DEGRADATION
LAND DEGRADATION: Loss of vegetation due to deforestation, cutting beyond permissible limits, unsustainable fuelwood and fodder extraction, shifting cultivation, encroachment into forest lands, forest fires, overgrazing, inadequate soil conservation measures, improper crop rotation, indiscriminate use of agro-chemicals, improper management of irrigation systems and excessive extraction of ground water.
DESERTIFICATION: Overgrazing, over-exploitation, deforestation, inappropriate irrigation, population pressure, urbanisation, poverty, inequitable sharing of resources.
Rajasthan accounts for the most desertified land (23 Mha), followed by Gujarat, Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir (13 Mha each) and Orissa and Andhra Pradesh (5 Mha each).
68 per cent of the country is prone to drought, and this will be further heightened because of the impact of climate change, particularly in dry lands.
Desertification and loss of biological potential will restrict the transformation of dry lands into productive ecosystem.
Climate change will further challenge the livelihood of those living in these sensitive ecosystems and may result in higher levels of resource scarcity," the report warns.
146.82 Mha of the country's total area is suffering from different kinds of land degradation, including water erosion (93.68 Mha), wind erosion (9.48 Mha), waterlogging (14.30 Mha), salinity or alkalinity (5.94 Mha), soil acidity (16.04 Mha) and other complex reasons (7.38 Mha).
The degradation was the result of loss of vegetation due to deforestation, cutting beyond permissible limits, unsustainable fuel wood and fodder extraction, shifting cultivation, encroachment on forest lands, forest fires and overgrazing.
Other factors leading to largescale degradation comprise "extension of cultivation to lands of low potential or high natural hazards, non-adoption of adequate soil conservation measures, improper crop rotation, indiscriminate use of agro-chemicals, improper planning and management of irrigation systems and excessive extraction of groundwater.
FOR FURTHER STUDY – SUGGESTED LINK
http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/Desertification_The%20invisible_frontline.pdf
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