#Environment
■ What are the new Green Credit Programme rules-
✅The Environment Ministry issued further guidelines on its Green Credit Programme (GCP), after it had prescribed rules governing the first initiative.
●
Key Highlights:
✅Green Credit Programme: It has its origin in Mission Life.
✅The GCP programme presents itself as an “innovative, market-based mechanism” to incentivise “voluntary actions” for environmental conservation.
✅Individuals, organizations and companies public and private would be encouraged to invest in sectors ranging from
✅Afforestation water conservation, stemming air-pollution, waste management, mangrove conservation and in return be eligible to receive ‘green credits.
✅An autonomous body, the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), is in charge of administering the programme.
✅They will define methodologies to calculate ‘green credits’ that result from the activities prescribed.
✅They will also manage a trading platform whereby such credits could be traded.
●
Controversy around GCP:
✅The GCP programme for afforestation says that companies can “exchange” their credits for “complying with compensatory afforestation, which would create excessive deforestation in certain parcels of Land.
✅Planting trees does not automatically boost ecosystems.
✅Planting the wrong types of trees could fester invasive species or prevent a sustainable ecosystem.
✅There is also a threat that natural forests could be razed and invasive monocultures promoted.
✅Finally, the GCP also says that green credits that result in storing carbon (from trees) may be used for carbon trading.
✅This again is controversial as the math equating these activities is not clear.
●
Government response:
✅States must rely on to calculate what it would cost to restore a degraded forest landscape.
✅Preference would be given to indigenous species
✅companies would not be able to offset all their obligations under compensatory afforestation using green credits, but could claim a portion of it.
●
Prelims Takeaway:
✅Carbon Credit
✅Mission LIFE
SOURCE - THE HINDUعرض المزيد ...