Madhya Pradesh leads in tree plantations under the controversial green credit programme

Madhya Pradesh leads in controversial tree plantations under the green credit programme

Madhya Pradesh has been found to lead in the  implementation of the Centre’s Green Credit Programme (GCP), which got over 500 land parcels spanning 4,980 hectares across 10 states for tree plantation in the past two months. A total of more than 10,000 hectares of land has been identified for the programme.

Madhya Pradesh has the highest i.e. 954 hectares of approved degraded forest land for plantation/greening followed by Telangana (845 hectares), Chhattisgarh (713 hectares), Gujarat (595 hectares) and Assam (454 hectares).

Other five states where such land parcels have been approved by the  Indian Council of Forestry Research (ICFR) include Bihar, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Odisha. Fourteen public sector undertakings and other entities have been registered to do plantations on these degraded forest lands and earn green credits. 

Based on the biodiversity of each degraded forest land block, relevant and locally suited indigenous tree species will be selected based on discussion with the respective forest departments to ensure natural regeneration  (Times of India).

Activists, environmentalists have however raised a number of questions regarding the unscientific basis of the programme that tends to dilute the environmental Act in India.

Read the article here: 

Decoding the Green Credit Rules 2023

Green credits and dilutions of the environment act- A recipe for greenwashing 

Seed banks provide a ray of hope in Jharkhand

Residents from Bara Kachna village in Jharkhand rarely had enough to eat. They would buy seeds from moneylenders and would have to give them two-thirds of their harvests to repay their loans and sell off the rest along with the seeds to make ends meet.

However, all this changed when four community-led seed banks were set up in the hilly districts of Pakur and Godda. Residents in these districts belong to the Pahariya community and practise jhum or shifting cultivation that involves clearing land by burning vegetation for farming for a few years. 

The native varieties of maize, millets and pulses that they grow have good productivity and are more resistent to pests and diseases. Varieties such as GS-4 cowpea, native sorghum and finger millet are rare and vanishing and the community was forced to sell them and buy seeds of inferior quality from traders. 

However, since 2019, Traidcraft Exchange and two other non-profits that work with tribal communities, namely Badlao Foundation and Sathee, have helped these villages to set up four seed banks, which cater to more than 1,350 households in 90 villages. They are operated under four panchayats namely, Bara Paktari, Bara Sindari, Kunjbona and Karma Tarn, and are managed by women-led committees (Down To Earth). 

India likely to receive above normal rainfall this year: IMD

The IMD rainfall forecast this year provides a reason to cheer when many parts of the country are reeling under droughts and severe water scarcity threatening agricultural production and water security.

India is likely to receive above normal rainfall during the upcoming June-September southwest monsoon season, predicts the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in its first long-range seasonal forecast issued on April 15, 2024.

This above normal seasonal rainfall will be  over most parts of the country except in some areas over northwest, east and northeast India. The seasonal rainfall over the country as a whole will be 106 per cent of Long Period Average (LPA). The IMD categorises the seasonal rainfall as above-normal when it ranges between 105-110 per cent of the LPA.

The rainfall in India mainly depends on the retreat of El Nino, favourable La Nina conditions, positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and reduced snow cover in Northern Hemisphere. El Nino conditions, currently prevailing over the equatorial Pacific region and generally responsible for warmer temperatures in many places around the world including in India, will weaken to neutral El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions during early part of the monsoon season (Down To Earth).

Deficient rainfall, intense heat coupled with land use changes increases risk of monkey fever in the Western Ghats

Kyasanur Forest Disease, a tick-borne viral illness, common to the Malenadu region of Karnataka, is now rapidly spreading to states along the Western Ghats at an alarming rate. Deficient rainfall and intense heat  are creating conditions suitable for the proliferation of ticks, that cause this disease among populations.

Deforestation and alterations in land use have brought the virus and its carriers into closer proximity to human populations. Locally known as monkey fever, the disease follows a annual cyclic pattern, emerging during the peak winter months of November and December, reaching its zenith in the summer, and then disappearing completely with the onset of monsoon.

While the development of an effective vaccine is on the anvil, experts stress the urgent need to halt rapid land use changes in forested areas, alongside the implementation of enhanced surveillance mechanisms and primary prevention strategies to control and prevent the spread of the disease (Mongabay, India).

Over 2300 billion tonnes of carbon found in top soil can help tackle climate change, finds a study

A new research finds that more than 2300 billion tonnes of inorganic carbon is available in minerals in the top two meters of the soil worldwide. This Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) can play a critical role in achieving sustainable soil management and climate change mitigation.

Solid SIC, mainly calcium carbonate is found to accumulate more in arid regions with infertile soil, making people believe that it is not important. However, SIC plays a dual role in storing carbon and supporting ecosystem functions and can serve as an additional lever in maintaining and enhacing carbon sequestration, i.e. capturing carbondioxide from air or from the point of production and storing it for long term.

The SIC estimates of more than 2300 billion tonnes are more than five times the carbon found in all of the world's vegetation put together. However, this carbon pool can be at risk due to changes in the environment such as soil acidification due to industrial activities and intense farming. A disturbance in the SIC can lead to disruption in the ability of the soil to counter acidity, regulate nutrients and stabilise organic carbon (Times of India).

This is a roundup of important news updates from 1st April to 15th April, 2024. Read our news updates here.