Aravalli Green Wall Initiative: India’s Landscape Ecological Restoration Programme for Climate Resilience and Inclusive Growth” Side event at 21st Session of UNFF21

The side event titled 'Aravalli Green Wall Initiative: India’s Landscape Ecological Restoration Programme for Climate Resilience and Inclusive Growth' will be organized during the 21st Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF21), scheduled from 11-15 May 2026 in New York, at the UN Headquarters. The thematic session is proposed as a high-level international dialogue showcasing India’s flagship landscape restoration initiative aimed at addressing land degradation, desertification, biodiversity loss, and climate vulnerability in the ecologically significant Aravalli region.

The event will bring together senior government officials, international organizations, technical experts, and research institutions to discuss innovative approaches for ecological restoration and climate-resilient development in dryland and peri-urban landscapes. The session is scheduled from 13:15 to 14:30 hrs and will feature presentations and panel discussions highlighting the science, governance, financing, and community dimensions of the Aravalli Green Wall (AGW) Initiative.

The AGW Initiative is a large-scale landscape restoration programme covering nearly six million hectares across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, and the National Capital Territory of Delhi within a 5 km buffer zone of the Aravalli range. The initiative adopts a science-based and multi-sectoral approach focused on ecological restoration through assisted natural regeneration, restoration of grasslands and wetlands, invasive species management, soil and moisture conservation, and enhancement of urban ecological resilience. It also emphasizes convergence across ministries and schemes, blended finance mechanisms, and community participation for long-term sustainability.

Key speakers at the event include senior officials from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, including Shri Ramesh Kumar Pandey, Additional Director General of Forests, and Shri ' Raghu Prasad, Inspector General of Forests. The event will also feature contributions from Smt Shikha Mehra, PCCF Development, Rajasthan Forest Department; Dr JV Sharma, Dr Dipankar Saharia and Shri Aniruddh Soni from TERI; Dr Chetan Kumar from IUCN; and Shri Kundan Burnwal from GIZ India.

The thematic track aims to position the Aravalli Green Wall as a scalable and replicable global model for forest landscape restoration at the dryland–urban interface, while contributing to the Global Forest Goals, SDGs, climate adaptation priorities, and international restoration commitments.