New Delhi/Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav, highlighted India’s innovative and diversified financing architecture for land restoration and drought resilience at a Ministerial Dialogue on ‘Innovative Financial Mechanisms for Healthy Land and Drought Resilience’ during the 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Emphasising the importance of sustained investment in environmental restoration, Shri Yadav said, “Land restoration is not a cost, but an investment in food, water, biodiversity, livelihoods and long-term resilience.”
He said that tackling desertification, land degradation and drought on a large scale requires diversified, predictable and sustained financial resources beyond public budgets, along with stronger public-private partnerships.
Highlighting India’s approach, the Minister referred to the country’s blended green-finance framework, which supports investments in climate-change adaptation, sustainable land use, forestry, agriculture, afforestation and biodiversity conservation. He also pointed to Sovereign Green Bonds as an important instrument for mobilising resources for land restoration, drought resilience, sustainable forestry and other environmental and climate-related priorities.
Shri Yadav also highlighted India’s Green Credit Programme, which enables public and private entities to support the restoration of degraded forest land. Under the programme, credits are issued after five years of restoration work and after achieving a minimum of 40 per cent canopy density. These credits may subsequently be used once towards compensatory afforestation, statutory plantation requirements or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) obligations.
The Minister further referred to India’s compensatory conservation regime, under which payments received for forest diversion are channelled towards compensatory afforestation and ecosystem restoration. He noted that corporate funding is also integrated through established environmental regulatory processes.
Underscoring the importance of coordinated action, Shri Yadav said that combining public and private finance through mechanisms such as the Green Credit Programme and compensatory afforestation funds, while ensuring citizen participation, reflects India’s Whole-of-Government and Whole-of-Society approach.
“Finance must be continuous, verifiable and connected to local communities,” he stressed.
The Minister said India’s experience demonstrates the impact that committed domestic resources can have on environmental restoration. However, he emphasised that domestic efforts cannot replace the need for additional, adequate and predictable international finance for land restoration and drought resilience.
Concluding his address, Shri Yadav reaffirmed India’s willingness to share its experience, institutional mechanisms, safeguards, lessons learned and areas requiring course correction with the international community.
“Ultimately, innovative finance should be judged not by its design or resources mobilised, but by whether it reaches the land, ecosystems and communities that need it most and delivers lasting restoration and resilience,” he said.