By Seema Sharma
DEHRADUN: Director general of forests in ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) Siddhanta Das on Saturday said that India is likely to miss its target of creating additional forest carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover (increase of about 680-817 million tonne of carbon stock).
Das had come to address probationers of Indian Forest Service (for 2017-19 course) at Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy in Dehradun along with union environment minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday. He said, that MoEF which had been performing its role as a regulatory authority will now direct states to focus on landscape-based catchment treatment plan to decrease the shortfall in target.
According to Paris Climate Agreement India will have to reduce its carbon footprint by 33-35% from its 2005 levels. This has to be achieved by 2030.
Explaining the concept of landscape based catchment treatment plan, Das said, “Soil stores around 65% carbon stock and trees 35% so in order to prevent soil erosion and keep carbon stock intact within forest, we need to treat our catchment to conserve water resources. This would not only help in recharging ground water but also create moisture in the soil which would work as deterrant for forest fire.”
Source: Times of India
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