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At the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said India brought 21.76 million hectares under restoration during 2011-2020, generating about 1.22 billion person-days of employment.
The figures come from India's Second Progress Report on the Bonn Challenge, covering 2011-2020; India's Bonn Challenge pledge, made in 2015 and later enhanced, stands at 26 million hectares by 2030.
The next reporting cycle, for 2021-2025, is being carried out with the ICFRE Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Land Management and IUCN, and will measure area restored, financial flows and employment generated.
At a separate ministerial dialogue on innovative financial mechanisms, India argued that land restoration finance must be diversified, adequate, predictable and sustained, and pointed to its blended green-finance framework, Sovereign Green Bonds, the Green Credit Programme and the compensatory afforestation regime.
India's delivery vehicles named at COP17 were the Green India Mission, CAMPA-funded compensatory afforestation, the Nagar Van Yojana for urban greening, and watershed, agroforestry and soil and water conservation work.
The only legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. Adopted 17 June 1994, entered into force 26 December 1996, with 197 Parties. It is one of the three Rio Conventions.
Co-founder of the Bonn Challenge with the Government of Germany in 2011; organised the COP17 side event at which India's figures were presented and is a partner in India's 2021-2025 reporting cycle. It also maintains the Red List of Threatened Species.
Autonomous body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; formed in 1986 and made an autonomous council registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 on 1 June 1991. It hosts the Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Land Management and is the Administrator of the Green Credit Programme under Rule 7 of the Green Credit Rules, 2023.
Channels money received for diversion of forest land to non-forest use into compensatory afforestation and allied restoration; constituted under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 with authorities at the Centre and in every State and Union Territory.
Publishes the Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India — the 2021 edition mapped state-wise degraded land for 2018-19 and compared it with 2003-05, putting 97.85 million hectares, or 29.7 per cent of India's geographical area of 328.72 million hectares, under degradation.
Strengthen forest and tree cover, ecosystem services and climate resilience
Key: One of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change; launched in February 2014 under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Ensure that money paid for diverting forest land is actually spent on afforestation
Key: Statutory footing under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016, with a national authority and one in each State and Union Territory
Extend restoration into urban and peri-urban landscapes
Key: Launched in 2020 by the MoEFCC; targets 1,000 Nagar Vans (urban forests) and 400 Nagar Vatikas (urban gardens) by 2027, financed from CAMPA funds
Let public and private entities finance restoration of degraded forest land and earn tradeable-free credits for it
Key: Green Credit Rules notified on 12 October 2023 by the MoEFCC, with ICFRE as Administrator; credits issued after five years and at least 40 per cent canopy density, usable once for compensatory afforestation, statutory plantation or CSR
Raise capital from markets for climate and environmental spending
Key: Cited by India at COP17 as a route to fund land restoration, drought resilience and sustainable forestry
Green a 5 km buffer around the Aravalli hill range
Key: Launched in 2023 covering Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Delhi; plants native species on scrubland, wasteland and degraded forest land and rejuvenates ponds, lakes and streams
India's national framework for implementing its UNCCD obligations
Key: The instrument through which Parties to the UNCCD are required to translate the Convention into domestic action
LDN is the UNCCD's central target: a state in which the amount and quality of land resources needed to support ecosystem functions stays stable or increases within a given period and ecosystem. It is the land equivalent of net-zero — degradation is not banned, but any new degradation must be offset by restoration of equal ecological value, measured against a national baseline. LDN is embedded in Sustainable Development Goal 15.3, which asks countries to achieve a land-degradation-neutral world. That is why India's reporting has moved from counting hectares planted to a three-dimensional account of area restored, financial flows and employment generated — neutrality is a balance sheet, not a total.
Simple Analogy: Not a ban on withdrawals from an account, but a rule that every withdrawal must be matched by a deposit of the same value, checked against an opening balance.
| Convention | Adopted | Focus | Secretariat |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNCCD (UN Convention to Combat Desertification) | 17 June 1994; in force 26 December 1996; 197 Parties | Desertification, land degradation and drought; Land Degradation Neutrality | Bonn, Germany |
| UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) | 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit | Greenhouse gas concentrations and climate change | Bonn, Germany |
| CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) | 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit | Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity; benefit sharing | Montreal, Canada |
Notified on 12 October 2023 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; create the Green Credit Programme and, under Rule 7, make ICFRE its Administrator.
Provides the institutional mechanism at the Centre and in each State and Union Territory for using money collected in lieu of diverted forest land — the 'compensatory conservation regime' India described at COP17.
The statute under which ICFRE was registered when it became an autonomous council on 1 June 1991.
The treaty obligation behind India's National Action Programme and its reporting; the COP is its supreme decision-making body.
Ulaanbaatar, the venue of COP17, is the capital and largest city of Mongolia, a landlocked country between Russia and China containing the Gobi Desert — an apt host for a convention on desertification and drought. Bonn, where the UNCCD secretariat sits, also hosts the UNFCCC secretariat and gave its name to the Bonn Challenge. In India, the Aravalli Green Wall Project runs along the Aravalli range across Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Delhi.
SDG 15.3 commits countries to a land-degradation-neutral world, which is the target the UNCCD operationalises as Land Degradation Neutrality.
The person-days metric ties restoration to India's rural employment architecture — watershed development, soil and water conservation and plantation work are among the assets created under rural employment programmes.
The compensatory afforestation regime exists because forest land diverted to non-forest use under forest conservation law triggers payments, which CAMPA then channels into restoration.
India's COP17 argument — domestic effort is not a substitute for international finance — mirrors its long-standing position at UNFCCC negotiations on common but differentiated responsibilities.
GS Paper 3 > Environment > Conservation, Land Degradation; GS Paper 2 > International Conventions
General Awareness > Environment and Current Affairs
What is/are the importance/importances of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification? 1. It aims to promote effective action through innovative national programmes and supportive international partnerships. 2. It has a special/particular focus on South Asia and North Africa regions, and its Secretariat facilitates the allocation of major portion of financial resources to these regions. 3. It is committed to bottom-up approach, encouraging the participation of local people in combating the desertification. Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer: 1 and 3 only
Which of the following has/have shrunk immensely/dried up in the recent past due to human activities? 1. Aral Sea 2. Black Sea 3. Lake Baikal Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Answer: 1 only
Which one of the following lakes of West Africa has become dry and turned into a desert?
Answer: Lake Faguibine
High — desertification, the Rio Conventions and India's restoration pledges recur in UPSC Prelims and Mains environment questions.
A state where the amount and quality of land resources needed for ecosystem function stays stable or increases in a given period and ecosystem; the UNCCD's central target, embedded in SDG 15.3.
The approach underlying the Bonn Challenge — restoring ecological function across a whole landscape while improving human wellbeing, rather than planting trees on isolated plots.
Combining public funds, market instruments and private capital on the same landscape so that public money reduces risk for private investment.
A non-tradeable unit issued under the Green Credit Rules, 2023 after five years of restoration and at least 40 per cent canopy density, usable once against compensatory afforestation, statutory plantation or CSR obligations.
One person employed for one day; the unit India used to report the employment generated by restoration between 2011 and 2020.