In his opening remarks at the Regional Consultation for Green India Mission, organised by the Centre for Environment Education in the city on Monday, Mr. Ramesh said putting a stop to de-greening activities was inevitable, though a trade-off between some projects and forests may be inevitable in the context of development.

Case in point

He cited the example of the impact of mining on the Western Ghats and said it made a mockery of the Green India concept. The Minister said he had also taken a strong stance against the Hubli-Ankola broad gauge project and the Gundia hydel project in Karnataka as they harmed a vast swathe of prime forests rich in biodiversity. But there was a need for trade-off between development and forests as one could not nurture the romantic notions of environment and hold back all infrastructure or development projects. The public consultation held in the city was the last in the series of seven such meetings held across the country, including Guwahati, Dehradun, Jaipur, Bhopal, Pune, Vishakapatnam and Mysore. Mr. Ramesh said the draft document of the Green India Mission would be fine-tuned after collating information and feedback from the public, and a report would be submitted to the Prime Minister by the end of July.

The National Mission for a Green India Mission was born in the context of climate change which had resulted in eight National Missions, including missions on solar energy, water, habitation, agriculture and energy. But he cautioned that Green India mission could not be treated like any other mission. He said: “This is an opportunity to do something different and if treated as a usual mission, it is bound to fail.”

The Green India Mission hopes to double the area to be taken up for afforestation or eco-restoration in India in the next 10 years and take the total area to 20 million hectares.