Thursday, February 25, 2010

INDIA JOINS UNEP'S GLOBAL TREE-PLANTING CAMPAIGN

      Nusa Dua, Bali, Feb. 25, 2010 (ANTARA) - India has joined UNEP`s Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign (BTC) by planting two billion trees since 2007, bringing the international campaign`s total to date to over 10 billion planted trees worldwide.
       India also launched a compensation afforestation programme under which any diversion of public forests for non-forestry purposes was compensated through afforestation in degraded or non-forested land, India`s Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forests Vijay Sharma announced here on Thursday.
      Vijay Sharma is attending the 11th Special Session of the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum being held at the Bali International Convention Center, here from February 24 to 26.
      India has instituted a tree planting system to combat land degradation and desertification, including windbreaks and shelterbelts to protect agricultural land.
       Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said: "It is wonderful to have India join a campaign that will give so much in terms of trees and the future of the planet. In September we thought hitting seven billion trees was an enormous achievement but with this latest planting by India we have now reached over 10 billion in the Billion Tree Campaign that has galvanized governments and people around the world. It is this kind of solidarity that will make a difference for moving economies towards a low carbon and sustainable world."
       Forestry forms the second largest land use in India and the government actively monitors the growth of the trees. At the macro level it is done by the Forest Survey of India every two years.
      The private sector is also engaged with tree planting. As part of the Green Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi, organizers have introduced an initiative to expand the forest coverage in the city.

Meanwhile, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in his opening remarks at the world environmental affairs minister meeting reaffirmed Indonesia`s plan to plant one billion trees every year.

"These will absorb tens of million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," the head of state said.

(T.F001/A/HAJM/B003)
(T.F001/A/F001/B003) 25-02-2010 20:51:06

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