NEW DELHI: India has succeeded in bringing 21.7 million hectares of degraded land under restoration against its target of restoring 26 million hectares by 2030 as per its voluntary global commitment, shows the country’s second progress report on the Bonn Challenge released on the world day to combat desertification and drought on Wednesday.Among states, Telangana restored the maximum (4.2 million hectares) degraded area followed by Madhya Pradesh (3.8 million ha), Odisha (2.6 million ha), Gujarat (1.7 million ha) and Andhra Pradesh (1.6 million ha).The Bonn Challenge is a voluntary global restoration pledge launched in 2011, urging nations to restore 350 million hectares of degraded ecosystems by 2030 as part of a larger goal to achieve ‘land degradation neutrality’.According to the India Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas, 97.8 million ha of land, or nearly 29.8% of the country’s geographical area, are affected by land degradation and desertification. Around 82% of India’s degraded land falls in nine states/UT – Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana.Releasing the country’s progress report, Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav said that India’s approach demonstrates that the convergence of policy commitment, scientific innovation and public participation can make environmental restoration an effective pathway towards sustainable development. India has been restoring its degraded land through afforestation, water resource management, sustainable farming practices, agroforestry, mangrove restoration and natural regeneration of formerly forested land.Yadav said the ‘Aravalli Green Wall’ initiative has emerged as an important landscape-level restoration programme and has surpassed its annual targets during the financial year 2025-26.The initiative aims to spread green cover in the 5 km buffer area around the Aravalli Hill Range in 29 districts of four states/UT, including Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Gujarat.The minister said India’s priorities include landscape-level restoration, drought resilience, science-based monitoring, community participation, nature-based solutions and innovative financing mechanisms for restoration.
