Government Plans to Turn South Haryana Greener

• 01 May 2024

Why in News?

According to the forest department, Six districts in south Haryana are prepared to plant 2.4 million saplings in the 2024 monsoon season.

Key Points

• Faridabad will lead the initiative by planting 5 lakh saplings, followed by Mahendergarh with 4.9 lakh saplings.
  • Palwal and Gurgaon will plant 3.7 lakh and 3.4 lakh saplings, respectively, while Nuh and Rewari are planning to plant 3.3 lakh saplings each.
• The Gurgaon's urban area has a forest cover of less than 1% despite yearly large-scale plantation efforts. 2024's extensive plantation campaign is focused on boosting the green cover.
  • To ensure the success of the plantation drive, the forest department plans to involve local communities and raise awareness about the significance of trees.
  • The planting initiatives will probably be paired with educational initiatives to raise awareness about the benefits of preserving and safeguarding the newly established green areas.
• This project aims to improve the air quality of Gurgaon which is one of the most polluted according to IQAir, a Swiss company.
  • According to the report by this firm, the PM 2.5 concentration in the city rose by 11% in 2021 compared to 2020.
• The Forest Survey of India (FSI) indicates a decline of 2.47sq km of forest cover between 2019 and 2020.
  • However, simply planting a large number of trees without ensuring their survival is not an effective solution. The survival rate of saplings in the region stands at only 10 to 20%, underlining the insufficiency of mass plantation drives.
  • Environmentalists stress the need for plantation drive audits and the revival of native species to enhance biodiversity in the area.

Forest Survey of India (FSI)

• FSI was founded in June 1981 and headquartered at Dehradun in Uttarakhand.
• It is under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
• This organisation conducts forest surveys, studies and researches to periodically monitor the changing situations of land and forest resources.
• It presents the data for national planning, conservation and sustainable management of environmental protection as well as for the implementation of social forestry projects.