Prime Minister Narendra Modi will officially launch a major land restoration initiative in the Aravalli mountain range on 5 June, coinciding with World Environment Day. As part of the launch, Modi will plant saplings in South Delhi’s ridge area, a key segment of the 700-kilometre-long range stretching from Gujarat to Delhi, according to officials from the environment ministry.

The chief ministers of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat will also take part in the event. The project, which forms a core part of the Aravalli Green Wall initiative announced in March 2023, aims to develop a five-kilometre-wide green buffer belt covering 6.45 million hectares across the four states.

Currently, around 42 per cent—or 2.7 million hectares—within this buffer zone is classified as degraded land. The project will include the creation of approximately 1,000 nurseries in 29 districts along the range. This large-scale afforestation effort is intended to support India’s environmental targets, including the restoration of 26 million hectares of degraded land and creation of an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030.

The Aravallis serve as a crucial ecological barrier, protecting northern India from desertification by halting the spread of the Thar Desert. The range shields cities like Delhi, Gurugram, and Jaipur, and supports important ecosystems comprising forests, grasslands, wetlands, and rivers such as the Chambal, Sabarmati, and Luni.

However, rising deforestation, unregulated mining, overgrazing, and encroachments have severely damaged the Aravalli landscape, depleting aquifers, drying lakes, and reducing biodiversity.

According to the government's action plan, 81 per cent of the degraded land within the designated buffer zone lies in Rajasthan. Udaipur alone accounts for 0.675 million hectares, surpassing the combined degraded area of Haryana, Delhi, and Gujarat, which stands at 0.568 million hectares. Gujarat holds 15.8 per cent of the degraded area, followed by Haryana (1.7 per cent) and Delhi (1.6 per cent).