Environment and Disaster Management › Conservation initiatives

Land degradation, desertification and drylands

Desertification and land degradation: the convention and its neutrality goal, India's restoration target, the atlas that measures degraded land, and drylands and watersheds. Prelims has asked why the Convention to Combat Desertification matters.

Foundation note: Land degradation: the convention, the Atlas and the neutrality target

Showing 1 of 3 articles, those that changed from 1 to 30 September 2026.Show all

Watershed development

Prelims and Mains

A watershed project treats a whole catchment so that rain is held where it falls, which is what protective irrigation later draws on.

Watershed projects under the scheme cover 34 million ha, and 2 million ha of it has been brought under protective irrigation.
Completed projects have a benefit cost ratio of about 2:1.

What changed

11 Sep 2026
- The Watershed Development Component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (WDC-PMKSY) reported its twelve year record alongside the Dryland Congress.
PIB, 11 Sep 2026: Drylands Must be Reimagined through Resilient Institutions, Digital Public Infrastructure and Community Action: Secretary, Department of Land Resources (DoLR) (opens in a new tab)

Also filed elsewhere

Open natural ecosystems · on Forests, grasslands and mountain ecosystems
India's open natural ecosystems, its grasslands, savannas, scrub, ravines and deserts, are still recorded in many places as wastelands, and lose out in land use decisions accordingly.