Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
4.1. AGRO-ECOLOGY AND SOIL DEGRADATION
To understand implications and role of climatic and edaphic resources in agricultural
and allied sectors, the NBSS & LUP (National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use
Planning, Nagpur) prepared an agro-ecological map, based on the physiography,
soils, bioclimate, and length of growing period (GP) of crops. An Agro-Ecological
Regions (AER) map was prepared by superimposing a bioclimatic cum growing period
map over the base soil-scape map (soil plus physiography). The country has been
broadly grouped into 20 agro-ecological regions (Sehgal et al., 1992).
The area estimates of degraded and wastelands in different AERs reveal that AER-
4 (Northern Plains and Central Highlands including Aravallis, a hot semi-arid
ecoregion with alluvium derived soils, and a GP of 90–150 days) is highly degraded,
ranked at the top, with an area of 14.96 M ha.
Other AERs that have an appreciably high area under degradation are AER-
2 (Western Plains, Kachchh, and a part of the Kathiawar peninsula, a hot arid
ecoregion, with desert and saline soils, and a GP of