Indian government is set to launch the Aravalli Green Wall project on June 5, coinciding with World Environment Day. This ambitious initiative aims to restore the ecological balance of the Aravalli range, India’s oldest mountain range, spanning 670 km across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat.
The project envisions the creation of a five-kilometre-wide green belt, covering approximately 6.45 million hectares, to combat desertification and promote biodiversity. The Aravalli range, often referred to as the “green lungs” of northern India, has been facing severe environmental degradation due to illegal mining, deforestation, and rapid urbanization. The Green Wall project seeks to address these issues by implementing large-scale afforestation and reforestation efforts, focusing on native species such as Khair, Ronjh, Dhau, and Pilkhan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the project by planting saplings at Mahavir Jayanti Park in South Delhi. Simultaneously, the Chief Ministers of Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat will participate in similar events in their respective states, marking a unified commitment to environmental restoration. In the first phase, Haryana plans to restore 24,990 hectares of degraded forest land across five districts—Gurgaon, Faridabad, Nuh, Rewari, and Mahendergarh—over three years. This initiative is part of a larger central government plan inspired by Africa’s Great Green Wall, aiming to restore 1.1 million hectares of the Aravalli range by 2027.
The project also aligns with India’s commitment under the Paris Agreement to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through improved forest and tree cover. By restoring the Aravallis, the initiative aims to enhance groundwater recharge, promote biodiversity conservation, and strengthen community participation for sustainable land use. Environmental experts emphasize the need for legal protection of the Aravallis to guard against illegal mining and deforestation. They advocate for declaring the entire range as a legal forest to ensure its preservation for future generations.
The Aravalli Green Wall project represents a significant step towards sustainable development, aiming to restore ecological balance, combat climate change, and promote environmental awareness across the nation.
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