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

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
EFFECT ON SOIL
Afforestation ensures increase in soil biodiversity and reduces soil
erosion. Soil bio-diversity is improved due to multiple rhizospheres of
different fruit crops, and the presence of a variety of microorganisms
associated with the rhizosphere. The role of afforestation in the
change of soil organic matter, after establishing new forest on former
agricultural lands, is scientifically proven. It is observed that afforestation
considerably increases the organic matter in erstwhile agricultural land. 43
It was also observed that there was a substantial amount of increase in
the soil’s ability to sequester carbon, improved soil quality and ecosystem
services provided by the soil. 44
Soil erosion is totally avoided by the non-tillage, multi-tier,
multi-crop, and mulching model that has been proposed, resulting in
better runoff, leading to increased surface flow. The runoff water is also
pollutant free. A soil scientist writes about the poor state of the Indian
soil, in relationship to rivers and farmers, and how tree plantation can be
part of the solution in Annexure 7.
EFFECTS ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Most of us understand that burning fossil fuels releases carbon that
was once buried deep beneath the earth into the atmosphere, turning
the planet into one big greenhouse in the process. But in addition to
petroleum underground, the soil on the surface of the earth contains
a sizable store of carbon in the form of organic matter. Plants add
organic matter to the soil when they decompose, and photosynthesis, by
definition, removes carbon dioxide from the air and pumps it through the
roots of plants and into the soil.
India has set ambitious targets to reduce our carbon footprint. By
2030, our Prime Minister has committed that India will reduce emissions
by 33 to 35% per cent of 2005 levels. A key way in which this will be done is
by enlarging our forest cover to absorb at least 2.5 billion tonnes worth of
carbon dioxide.
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