Saving the Aravallis

Political, bureaucratic buy-in is critical

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Given the scale of destruction of the Aravallis, one of India's oldest mountain ranges, the launch of the Aravalli Green Wall project on June 5, World Environment Day, has not come a day too soon.

Inspired by Africa's Great Green Wall project to regreen the Sahel, the Indian version aims to reforest 700 km of the range in 29 districts in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat.

The broad plan is to supplant destructive alien species with native species on scrubland, wasteland and degraded forest and restore water bodies to create an additional 2.5 billion tonnes of carbon sink, as India has committed as its Nationally Determined Contributions under the United Nations' Paris climate change agreement.

The notable point about this project, initially announced in 2019, is that the government plans to work with stakeholders—state governments, civil society organisations, and private sector and local communities in pasture development and agroforestry.