India

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Climate Actions

Afforestation

Over $6.2 billion has been designated by the government to support tree planting across the country, as part of its pledge to push India’s forest cover to 95 million hectares by 2030. [1]

In 2017, Indians set the world record by planting 66 million trees in just 12 hours [2]

In July 2021, over one million people took part in the annual coordinated effort to plant 250 million saplings in Uttar Pradesh. While many saplings end up dying, improved tree care has improved survival rates from 60% to 80%.[3]

A 2022 report from the Forest Survey of India found that the country's forests grew by 2,261 square kilometers over the last three years, despite ongoing deforestation [4]

Critique

Some tree planting projects, such as that of the Isha Foundation to restore riverside vitality, have attracted critique from ecologists and scientists due to non-disclosure around what trees will be planted prior to fundraising, and the need for simultaneously addressing the root causes of river degradation such as hydropower dams, urbanization, and groundwater depletion.[5]

Climate Crises

Air Pollution

According to the AQ Index, 21 out of the 30 cities most impacted by Air Pollution in the world were in India in 2019.[6]

Sea Level Rise

With more than 20 percent of India’s population (about 250 million people) living within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of the sea, the country’s 7,500-kilometer-long coastline is considered the world’s most vulnerable to the impacts of climate collapse, in particular sea level rise.

Over the past 25 years, four of the over 100 islands constituting the Indian Sundarbans (population 4.5 million) have already disappeared: Bedford, Kabasgadi, Suparibhanga, and Lohachara - the first inhabited island in the world to disappear. The inhabitants of these islands became India’s first climate refugees.

In the Sundarbans, Sagar Island is the largest and most populated with more than 200,000 inhabitants. Coastal erosion is happening here faster than anywhere in the world, having risen by ~3cm/year over the last two decades. The area has lost almost 12 percent of its shoreline in the last four decades.

As sea levels rise, salinization creeps into the soil and can ruin crops for multiple seasons while devastating farmer livelihoods. Crop failure can be so dramatic on some parts of the island that a large portion of male residents are forced to find work elsewhere.

By 2050, without coastal defenses, sea level rise would 'erase' Mumbai at high tide.[7]

Heat Waves

Best-Case Scenario at +2C:: 32x as many extreme heat waves, each 5x as long, exposing 93x more people.[8]

Index

  1. ↑ https://apnews.com/article/india-plants-health-coronavirus-pandemic-climate-change-4dd09a1c6665d7810eda02297332bd92
  2. ↑ https://www.brightvibes.com/a-record-66-million-trees-planted-in-12-hours-in-india/#:~:text=1.5%20Million%20Volunteers%20Plant%2066,the%20Paris%20Climate%20Change%20Conference.
  3. ↑ https://apnews.com/article/india-plants-health-coronavirus-pandemic-climate-change-4dd09a1c6665d7810eda02297332bd92
  4. ↑ https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/mass-tree-planting-works-indias-forest-cover-rose-by-over-a-half-million-acres/
  5. ↑ https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/mass-tree-planting-along-indias-cauvery-river-has-scientists-worried/
  6. ↑ https://www.iqair.com/world-most-polluted-cities
  7. ↑ https://thediplomat.com/2020/05/in-the-indian-sundarbans-the-sea-is-coming/
  8. ↑ The Uninhabitable Earth, p.
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