New Delhi: Impressed by China`s impressive
record in increasing its green cover, India will soon send a
delegation there for bilateral cooperation and collaboration
in the forestry sector.
This was stated by Union Environment Minister Jairam
Ramesh at a function organised by FICCI which was
attended by Vice Premier of China, Hui Liangyu, besides
numerous business delegation from both the countries.
"The ministry will be sending a delegation to China later
this month to take forward the cooperation in the field of
forestry and forestry management and environment control to
tackle pollution," Ramesh said hoping that it would further
foster ties between the two nations.
He pointed that China has done remarkably well in these
areas, particularly forestry, where it has set a target of
bringing 40 million hectares of land under green cover in the
next ten years with four million hectares each every year.
"So what we have done in the last ten years -- bringing
four million hectares of land under green cover, China plans
to do it within one year," the Minister noted.
Forestry is important on economic as well as ecological
point of view as most countries were facing deforestation on
massive scale, while India and China are two of the few
countries in the world who are involved in adding to green
cover to create a large carbon sink to help absorb greenhouse
gas, he added.
Besides sending a delegation, the Environment Minister
will also hold a meeting with the Chinese Vice Premier on
forestry, rural development and agriculture which has been
identified as major areas of collaboration.
"We will be also be learning from China how it is
approaching to the issue of genetic engineering and
bio-technology," Ramesh said.
PTI
