Jairam Ramesh says 33% forest cover is an unrealistic goal

India's ambitious target of bringing 33% of its area under green cover is not realistic given the population pressure and the pressure for development, said Jairam Ramesh, minister for environment and forests.

Jairam also criticised the information technology industry for not adhering to green building norms.

According to Jairam, it is better to improve the quality of green cover than to harp on quantity.

"This [the target] is unrealistic in a country like India where the population is 1.2 billion and set to become 1.6 billion by 2040. With the population pressure in our country, with the development pressure in our country, to expect that suddenly India will grow the green cover from the present 21% to 33% is totally unrealistic," Jairam said during the Green Landscape Summit 2011 organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Jairam also pointed out that about 40% of Indian forest is open degraded forest land, meaning when you look up, you easily see the sun. (In forests with good tree cover, it is not possible to see the sun.)

The minister also blasted the IT industry for not adhering to green building norms.

"The IT industry is a huge guzzler for air-conditioning," he said. "IT buildings are horribly inefficient when it comes to meeting energy efficiency levels. I close my ears when the IT czars are giving long lectures on green buildings and when I see their buildings which are poor advertisements of green habitats," the minister said.

According to him, bulk of the carbon emission comes from electricity generation and power plants, to the extent of 38% of the total, followed by the industrial sector at about 23% and 17% from agriculture.