World Restoration Flagships

World Restoration Flagships

World Restoration Flagships of the UN Decade are the first, best, or most promising examples of large-scale and long-term ecosystem restoration in any country or region.

They enable the UN Decade to make ecosystem restoration visible for a broad audience and inspire a global movement to enhance efforts to ‘prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide’ and raise awareness of the importance of successful ecosystem restoration.

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National Mission for Clean Ganga initiative, also called as Namami Gange initiative has been recognised by the United Nations (UN) as one of the Top 10 World Restoration Flagships programmes aimed at reviving the natural world.

• It was selected from over 150 such initiatives from 70 countries across the globe.

The winning initiatives were unveiled at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal.

Initiative is selected under the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a global movement coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

• Benefits: Initiatives declared World Restoration Flagships are eligible to receive UN-backed promotion, advice or funding.

About Ganga Basin

It is home to 40 per cent of India’s population, 2500 species of flora and fauna and 8.61 billion sq. km. basin, which is home to over 520 million people.

Spiritual: Ganga is closely associated with India’s tradition and civilization and symbolizes the faith, sentiments and collective consciousness of the people here.

About Namami Gange Initiative

About: It is rejuvenating, protecting and conserving the Ganges and its tributaries, reforesting parts of the Ganges basin and promoting sustainable farming.

Aims: To revive key wildlife species, including river dolphins, softshell turtles, otters, and the hilsa shad fish.

It is a flagship initiative of the Union Government and was implemented by NMCG.

It is an integrated mission for pollution abatement as well as improvement in ecology and flow of Ganga and its tributaries.

Objectives: Conservation and rejuvenation of Ganga.

Main pillars: Treating sewerage infrastructure, achieving biodiversity, developing riverfronts, cleaning river surfaces, enabling afforestation, monitoring industrial effluents and increasing awareness among the public.

PPP Model: Investment by the Indian government is up to $4.25 billion so far. The initiative has the involvement of 230 organisations, with 1,500km of river restored to date.

Monitoring: It is closely monitored by the National Ganga Council chaired by the Prime Minister and is regularly reviewed by Union Minister for Jal Shakti.

Jan- Andolan or people’s movement: NMCG adopted a holistic and multi-sectoral approach, which introduced innovative models for the comprehensive conservation of the riverine ecology and its health.

Steps taken under Namami Gange Initiative

Clean Ganga Fund (CGF): It is specially set up to encourage public contribution in Government’s endeavour to clean river Ganga,

• Gifts received by Hon’ble PM is annually put to public auction, all proceeds of which is given to the CGF.

Youth Engagement: Diverse activities are carried out by trained volunteer cadres like Ganga Praharis, Ganga Doots, Ganga Quest etc. in protecting the biodiversity of River Ganga.

National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)

It is the empowered nodal agency for implementation of Namami Gange program nationwide.

NMCG releases funds to State Governments /State Missions for Clean Ganga/CPSUSs/ Other Executing Agencies.

National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has previously won the “Public Water Agency of the Year” in the Global Water Awards, 2019 by Global Water Intelligence.

Arth Ganga

It focuses on the sustainable development of the Ganga and its surrounding areas, by focusing on economic activities related to the river.

It seeks to use economics to bridge people with the river.

United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

It is a global movement coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

It is designed to prevent and reverse the degradation of natural spaces across the planet.

UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment.

It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

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