NEW DELHI: On the occasion of the World Environment Day on Friday, the Centre announced implementation of ‘Nagar Van’ scheme to develop urban forests in 200 municipal areas (cities/towns) across the country in next five years by involving multiple stakeholders including private companies, local communities and educational institutions.
It asked states to map such areas within cities which have been marked as forest land but do not have adequate tree cover. Any other vacant land, offered by urban local bodies, will also be used for developing forests.
“Urban forests will work as urban lungs,” said environment minister Prakash Javadekar while making announcement on the Nagar Van scheme and appealing people to work together and make it a people’s movement.
“India is probably the only country where trees are worshipped, where animals, birds and reptiles are worshipped and this is the respect Indian society places for environment. We had a very important tradition of village forest since ages, now this new scheme of urban forest will fill up the gap because urban areas have gardens but very rarely forests. With this activity of creating urban forest we will also create additional carbon sink,” said Javadekar.
A success story of minister’s hometown Pune in developing Warje urban forest will act as a model for the rest of the country. The Maharashtra forest department and local body has converted 16.8 hectares of a barren hill into green forests in Pune. The project was launched there in 2015.
The environment ministry held virtual celebrations of World Environment Day on this year’s theme with focus on urban forests and biodiversity. The event also saw participation of Executive Director, United Nation Convention to Combat Desertification, (UNCCD),Ibrahim Thiaw and Executive Director of United Nation Environment Programme(UNEP), Inger Andersen, through video conference.
In the backdrop of the current Covid-19 situation, all the speakers on the occasion emphasised on broad aspect of biodiversity emphasising that the humans need nature more than nature needs them.
The day was marked by a number of virtual events and webinars on protecting environment and how the world would need to reorient itself in the post-Covid phase.
The New Delhi-based think tank, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), called for a ‘green’ stimulus package to help India retain its “blue skies and clean lungs”.
Underlining air pollution issue, the CSE noted that the PM 2.5 levels across six major Indian cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru – dropped a phenomenal 45-88% during the first three lockdown periods with Delhi-NCR reporting a drop of 66-79%. However, with the nation opening up in lockdown 4.0, pollution has started registering a comeback. In the six cities, there was a two-six times increase in PM 2.5 levels during lockdown 4.0 when Delhi-NCR reported significant rise of four-eight times.
“What this tells us is that the nation needed an intervention at such a massive scale – where movement across the country was completely restricted, and all industry stopped functioning – to make our skies blue and our air and lungs clean. It tells us that there should be no question, therefore, on the key sources of air pollution in our country: emissions from vehicles and industry. And it tells us that we need to set down an agenda for action which will help us retain this lockdown advantage of blue skies and clean lungs,” said Sunita Narain, director general, CSE.
Referring to air quality during the lockdown period, Anumita Roychowdhury, the CSE’s executive director-research and advocacy, said, “During the lockdown period, overall mean speed on the roads of Delhi-NCR increased by 15 km/hour. Farm fires did not create the same kind of havoc that they do every year. Daily peak levels of nitrogen dioxide remained flat. We must move immediately to ensure that pollution and congestion levels do not go back to ‘normal’ – what they were before the lockdown.”
CSE PITCHES FOR EIGHT MEASURES:
1. Do not delay in implementing the BS VI norms for vehicles.
2. Trucks and heavy-duty vehicles, which are one of the major contributors to pollution, need to be moved to BS VI – use financial stimulus to scrap BS IV-run vehicles and shift them to BS VI.
3. Introduce cleaner battery-powered para-transit and public transport – provide financial support for the shift, starting with autorickshaws and taxis in regions where CNG is not available.
4. Re-start public transport. Implement the global best practices for ensuring safety and hygiene.
5. Use financial stimulus to augment public transport in cities at scale and with speed.
6. Cycling and walking must become part of the ‘new normal’ – introduce measures to encourage and incentivise cycling and walking.
7. Bring natural gas under GST to reduce the tax burden and incentivise cleaner fuel.
8. Remove coal from OGL so that imports can be regulated and use can be monitored.
Ensure power plants across the country meet the 2015 emission norms – introduce a policy which will ensure that only those plants which are clean can sell electricity.
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