Green Credits: Boosting India’s Forests

Context

Green credits are like a reward for helping the environment. In India, where the forests are being damaged, green credits could be really helpful in protecting and restoring the forests.

Details

• India is home to a vast array of flora and fauna, with its forests covering over 20% of the country’s land area. 
• In general, these forests are still facing threats such as cutting down, deterioration, and global warming.
• The green credits as a highly effective tool has been gaining its popularity over the past days as it can be a helpful tool for the sustainable management and conservation of the forests.

What are Green Credits?

• Green credits comprise a category of carbon credit which is both used for motivating people, organisations and governments to invest in sustainable forest-management and preservation.
• They come through projects which are intended to plant, improve and preserve forests so as to CO2 sequester.
• These financial credits can be transacted on the carbon market and thus provide monetary motivation for the sustainable forestry management.

Benefits of Green Credits

• Promotes Sustainable Forest Management: Green credits encourage the sustainable protection of forests by providing economic benefits for those engaging in ecological approaches.
• Conserves Biodiversity: Planting credits support biodiversity through the preservation and restoration of forests, which provide the shelter for myriad various plants and animals.
• Supports Local Communities: Green credit can be an outlet and impetus for local people to create income and help the process of sustainable development.
• Helps to Combat Climate Change: Green credits provide a direction that is aimed to fight climate change by making CO2 stay in the atmosphere.

Potential Benefits for India’s Forests

• Conservation of Forests: Green credits can be a tool that is used to implement the protection and conservation of forestry of India, which by now has got several urgent challenges such as cutting down of trees and their degradation.
• Sustainable Forest Management: As the green credit is designed as a tool for the sustainable forestry practice, the main objective of the model is to execute the productive management of the forest resources.
• Community Engagement: Green debits allow the community stakeholders to be team players in ensuring conservation forest growth by putting them in position where they are decision-makers.
• Economic Benefits: The concept of green credits is advantageous for the community firstly, because of their remunerative aspect which also contributes indirectly to sustaining the family economy and the general development of the area.

Challenges and Limitations

• Lack of Awareness: A deficit in benign credits understanding among the shareholders such as the local residents and responsible forest administration is the existing situation.
• Complexity: A difficulty arising here might be a need for skilled specialists in the field of environmental metrics since carbon offsets generation and trading are technically complex.
• Limited Market: The limited number of market participants and a lack of an active demand slows down the green credit sales.
• Monitoring and Verification: Tracking and credibility of eco-credits projects could be complicated to determine if they are of standard quality.

Conclusion

Green credits have the potential to benefit India’s forests by promoting sustainable forest management, conserving biodiversity, supporting local communities, and helping to combat climate change. However, there are challenges and limitations that need to be addressed, including a lack of awareness, complexity, limited market, and monitoring and verification. With the right policies and regulations in place, green credits can play a crucial role in promoting sustainable forest management and conservation in India.

Source: The Hindu

Also read: Streamlining of Green Credit Program for Ecosystem Restoration

UPSC Mains Practice Question

Q. Discuss the potential impact of implementing a ‘Green Credits’ system on India’s forests, considering both environmental conservation and economic development perspectives.

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