Posted on behalf of K.S. Jayaraman

India will create new forests on five million hectares of land and improve the quality of tree cover on another five million hectares at a cost of Rs.460 billion ($10 billion) over 10 years, starting in 2012. The National Mission for a Green India (NMGI) – one of eight missions under India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change – was approved by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change on 23 February.

According to a presentation by the ministry of environment and forests to the council, the NMGI mission will enhance annual CO2 sequestration to 50-60 million tonnes by the year 2020. It says this will increase the share of green house gas emissions offset by India’s forest and tree cover from 4.5% to around 6%. As a bonus, the mission is expected to provide income for three million forest-dependent households. Non-carbon services like biodiversity, water and improved biomass are recognized as other key benefits of the mission.

An autonomous body under the minister of environment and forests will implement the mission through “revamped” forest development agencies in various states. At the local level it will be managed by ‘gram sabhas’ or village committees. The mission will engage students from 100,000 schools and 10,000 colleges as well as non-governmental organizations and private sector industries, according to the official statement.

Image: Photo by INeedCoffee via Flickr under Creative Commons