India to launch forestry satellite by 2013
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COMMENTS 
India is set to launch a satellite to monitor forest cover, in 2013. Meanwhile, consultations for finalisation of the Green India Mission too have reached the final stage. The government hopes to expand forest cover from 23% to 33%, and carry out afforestation of 6 million hectares of degraded forest land
Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh has informed the Rajya Sabha that a forestry satellite will be launched in 2013 to monitor the country’s forest cover on daily basis. “A family of forestry satellites will be launched; it will make real-time monitoring possible,” he said.
The minister also informed the house that the country had gained over 3 million hectares of forest in the last 10 years. “India is one of the few countries where green cover is increasing. In Brazil, 3 million hectares of forest is cleared every year, but in India we have gained 3 million hectares of forest in the last 10 years,” Ramesh said.
Last week, the minister said a blueprint for the Green India Mission, which seeks to enhance the country’s forest cover, would soon be submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The ministry, which held consultations with various stakeholders, is in the last stage of finalising the Mission. Asserting that it would not be business-as-usual, Ramesh said the Mission “will be a different model of greening through involvement of locals, elected bodies and entrepreneurs”.
The Green India Mission in one of the eight missions announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2008 under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). It aims to expand India’s forest cover from 23% to 33%, and carry out afforestation of 6 million hectares of degraded forest land.
Apparently concerned over developmental projects eating away at forests, the minister noted that the Green India Mission would not be a success if we went on ‘de-greening’. “De-greening is not sustainable growth. It’s time that instead of giving weightage to fiscal sustainability, as we have been doing so far, we talk about ecological sustainability,” the minister said.
Four lakh hectares of land have been brought under forest cover in the last 10 years. In the next 10 years, under the Green India Mission, the plan is to double this achievement.
The minister also pointed out that joint forest management committees can play an important role in increasing forest cover. “JFMCs have to be made accountable and owned by gram sabhas so that the community has a stake in the forests,” Ramesh said.
Source: The Economic Times, August 10, 2010
Press Trust of India, August 10, 2010