Haryana to revive 25,000 hectares under Aravalli Green Wall project

Prime Minister Narendra Modi symbolically launched the Aravalli Green Wall project today, even as Haryana targets to restore around 25,000 hectares of the depleting Aravallis.

The project, which aims to combat the threat of desertification, will, in the first phase, develop continuous forests from Porbandar in Gujarat to Rajghat in Delhi. Almost 40 per cent of the Aravallis are in Haryana's six districts, making the state's role particularly crucial for the green wall project to succeed.

In Haryana, the restoration will be carried out over the next three years in the recorded forest areas (RFA) of five districts — Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh, Rewari and Mahendragarh. The Forest Department has used Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping to identify RFA totalling 33,706 hectares across these districts. Of this, 24,990 hectares were found to be degraded. Over half of the degraded land has low tree cover, around a quarter has no forest cover, and 15 per cent of it is scrubland.

The sixth district having the Aravallis — Charkhi Dadri — is not part of the project as its forest cover has been maintained. The largest chunk of degraded forest to be restored is in Nuh (9,839 hectares), followed by Gurugram (6,063.7 hectares), Faridabad (3,852.7 hectares), Rewari (3,087.9 hectares) and Mahendragarh (2,146.2 hectares).

According to Forest Minister Rao Narbir, the work in Haryana has also been started today, and soon the forest lost to encroachment, mining, etc., would be revived.

“We are already on it by mapping the concerned area. We will reverse the damage done to the Aravallis over the years by reviving the forest with native species. We will restore the natural boundaries of the forest,” he said.

Soil, water conservation

Restoration will begin with soil and water conservation, followed by planting of 15-20 native species of vegetation per site. The Aravalli Green Wall project, announced by the Central Government in 2023, is inspired by Africa's Great Green Wall initiative, under which an 8,000-km "wall" of forests was restored across the continent. The government aims to revive 1.1 million hectares of the Aravallis — the only barrier that blocks the expansion of Thar desert towards northwest India — by 2027. The range extends from Gujarat, crosses Rajasthan and Haryana, before levelling off in Delhi.