Jairam Ramesh Backs Real-Time Monitoring Of Forests

"I propose a fundamental shift in mindset from our traditional focus of merely increasing the quantity of our forest cover, towards increasing the quality of our forest cover and improving provision of ecosystem services," he told a conference on Green India Mission (GIM) held here.

The GIM is part of the country's plans to fight climate change under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

It projects an ambitious target of 10 million hectares of forest cover by 2020 at a cost of Rs.460 billion (Rs.46,000 crore/$10 billion). Ramesh suggested following the Brazilian model which is based on real-time monitoring instead of expenditure monitoring. Read the full report here.

Source: Economic Times, New Delhi.