India achieves around 80% land restoration target: Government

India has already restored 18.94 million hectares of degraded land against the 2030 target of 24 million hectares, the government said on Wednesday.

Responding to a question by Bharat Rashtra Samithi's Rajya Sabha member Bandi Partha Saradhi Reddy, Union Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh said India has committed to restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 as part of its obligations under the Bonn Challenge and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

"So far, India has been able to restore 18.94 million hectares of degraded land," he said.

The country has also committed to creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030 through enhanced forest and tree cover, as part of its Nationally Determined Contributions (or national climate plans) under the Paris Agreement.

At the 16th UN Biodiversity Conference in Cali, Colombia, in October, India launched its updated biodiversity action plan with a goal to protect at least 30 per cent of its terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas by 2030, in line with global biodiversity targets.

The updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) outlines 23 national targets aligned with the 23 global goals set under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF), which was adopted at the 15th UN Biodiversity Conference in Canada in 2022.

A key goal of the KM-GBF is to protect at least 30 per cent of the world's land and ocean areas by 2030. It also aims to restore degraded ecosystems, such as forests, wetlands, and rivers, to ensure they continue providing essential services like clean water and air.

India, recognised as one of the 17 megadiverse countries, became a party to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1994. It harbours 7-8 per cent of the world's recorded species within just 2.4 per cent of the global land area.

According to the updated NBSAP, India spent around Rs 32,200 crore on biodiversity protection, conservation, and restoration from 2017-2018 to 2021-2022. The projected annual average expenditure for biodiversity conservation through 2029-2030 is estimated to be Rs 81,664.88 crore.