World Environment Day: India's Green Mission Caught In Funds' Crunch

The mission also focuses on improving ecosystem services, including biodiversity, hydrological services and carbon sequestration, and aims to increase forest-based livelihood income for three million forest-dependent families.

India currently has 23 percent of its land mass (70 million hectares) under forest cover. The aim is to eventually raise this to 33 percent (100 million hectares) but no timeline has been set for this.

R.K. Pachauri, chief of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), called for better coordination among various ministries and states for better implementation of the mission.

"It is sad that the mission has stopped. I hope there is better coordination among all stakeholders for better implementation," Pachauri told IANS.

"In India, politics is bigger than anything," he said.

The mission also aims at monitoring additional parameters like ground cover, soil condition, erosion and infiltration and groundwater levels.

It was to be implemented through an autonomous organisational structure to reduce red-tape and rigidity while ensuring accountability. However, nothing has progressed so far.

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