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The Union Minister for Environment and Forests, Mr Jairam Ramesh, today said his Ministry will work closely with the CII and the Green Business Centre to propagate the message of developing green landscapes in commercial establishments and residential areas.
“The idea of achieving 33 per cent green cover in the country up from the present 24 per cent is impossible. What we should strive for is to improve the existing forests, make them denser,” he said.
Addressing the two-day Green Landscape Summit 2011 of the CII, the Union Minister said, “urbanisation is a reality and we have no way to reverse this trend. But we can proactively develop infrastructure that would help meet these challenges.
“We believe that nearly 80 per cent of the total infrastructure required by the country till 2040 is yet to be developed. Therefore, we could do so by focussing on ensuring that everywhere there is greenery,” he said.
Carbon footprint
About 38 per cent of the Indian carbon footprint is contributed by electricity generating companies through greenhouse gases, industrial (23 per cent), agriculture (17 per cent), transport (7 per cent) and residential and commercial buildings (7 per cent). In the West, 40-60 per cent is from buildings, he said.
The Minister said globally IT companies contribute to about 2 per cent of the greenhouse gases being heavy electricity consumers. They need to take lead in addressing this issue. In fact, even the IT hub of Hyderabad could start by addressing this issue. He said the MoEF will have a new building by next year.
Case studies
Mr S. Raghupathy, Head of CII-GBC, said that it is proposed to develop case studies of 100 best green landscapes which will serve as inspiration to others.
Other plans include encourage development of native species, creation of ‘Tree Banks' through private participation, for others to use.
“The green building movement in India has gathered momentum. From just a single building of 20,000 sq. ft in 2001, we are close to having 1,000 buildings with a total built up area of 626 million sq. ft. We now have 995 buildings and expect to cross the 1,000-mark by next week,” he said.
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