'COVID-19 Compounded the Challenge of Fighting Global Warming': Environment Min

Bhupender Yadav.

(Image: Erum Gour/The Quint)

Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday, 10 May, addressed the opening plenary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Conference of Parties, and said that the COVID-19 pandemic had compounded the challenge of fighting global warming.

"(COVID-19) has compounded the challenge of fighting global warming as economic pressures have delayed or slowed climate action across the world," a government press release quoted Yadav as saying.

The Union minister, also India's COP president, was attending the 15th session of the UNCCD in Cote d'Ivoire.

Speaking on India’s presidency of the COP since 2019, the minister said that India has made significant progress in its commitment to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.

He stated, “Over 229 million Soil Health Cards have been issued to farmers between 2015 and 2019 and this programme has led to a decline of 8-10 percent in the use of chemical fertilisers and also raised productivity by 5-6 percent."

Further, the COP president added that after the global call regarding submission of nominations for World Restoration Flagships, India has endorsed six restoration flagships targeting the restoration of 12.5 million hectares of degraded land.

“India’s rural livelihood programmes have an underlying ethos of natural resource conservation and restoration. In recovering from the pandemic, we have used our livelihood programmes extensively to work towards land restoration. Building forward better and greener communities, especially for vulnerable groups, will have to be at the heart of the restoration agenda”, he stated.