Green Urban Oases Programme

Context: Recently, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched report on Urban forestry and urban greening in drylands.

Key findings of the report:

• 35% of the world’s largest cities are built in the world’s drylands.
• It includes Cairo, Mexico City and New Delhi.
• They are home to 2 billion people, 90% of them in developing countries.
• Urban forestry and urban greening in drylands, these sprawling and crowded dryland cities face a high risk of social, environmental and economic crisis as they grow.
• They are becoming hotter and more polluted and face mounting pressure on their scarce natural resources.
• Weak infrastructure, making them among the most vulnerable places in the world to external shocks from the extreme weather events that climate change brings.
• More than half of the global population lives in cities and 95% of urban growth between now and 2050 is expected to take place in the global South.
• Thus, preserving and planting trees has been shown beneficial effect on the lives and health of the people.

About Green Urban Oases Programme:

• It was Launched in 2021 by FAO.
• It contributes to the FAO Green Cities initiative, which was launched in 2020.
• It aims to improve the resilience of dryland cities by tackling climate, health, food and economic challenges.
  • To transform dryland cities into ‘green urban oases’ by strengthening their overall resilience to climatic, health, food and economic crises for the improved health and well-being of urban communities.
• It focuses on developing policy, technical capacity and outlines several pathways for transforming urban spaces by planting trees.

Key Recommendation from report:

• Community Level: Boosting participation and a sense of ownership, providing incentives to encourage tree planting and building capacity through environmental education, awareness raising campaigns towards public engagement.
• Government Level: Implementing robust policies for protection of urban greenery.
  • Several initiatives including the Great Green Wall in Africa and the Three-North Shelter Forest Programme in China have been put in place to support the implementation of climate adaptation and mitigation strategies in dryland rural areas.

Source:  FAO

Previous Year Question

Q.1) The “Miyawaki method” is well known for the: (2022)

1. Promotion of commercial farming in arid and semi-arid areas
2. Harvesting wind energy on coastal areas and on sea surfaces
3. Development of gardens genetically modified flora using
4. Creation of mini forests in urban areas

Q.2) Consider the following statements:

1. The Climate Group is an international non-profit organisation that drives climate action by building large networks and runs them.
2. The International Energy Agency in partnership with the Climate Group launched a global initiative “EP100”.
3. EP100 brings together leading companies committed to driving innovation in energy efficiency and increasing competitiveness while delivering on emission reduction goals.
4. Some Indian companies are members of EP100.
5. The International Energy Agency is the Secretariat to the “Under2 Coalition”.

Which of the statements given above are correct? (2022)

1. 1,2, 4 and 5
2. 1,3 and 4 only
3. 2,3 and 5 only
4. 1,2, 3, 4 and 5