Why forests hold the key to India achieving its green goals

A degraded forest ecosystem will only exacerbate the frequency and intensity of climate change events. (Photo: Saurabh Sawant via Wikimedia Commons)

Farms in the Meenangadi village of Kerala were once lush with cash crops — coffee, black pepper and betel nut. Two decades of droughts and unseasonal rain decimated them. To provide farmers with a reliable source of earning, the village panchayat initiated a tree-banking scheme. Saplings of native species were handed out which had the capacity to absorb large amounts of carbon and withstand weather swings. Farmers were paid to plant, protect and keep them standing. Today, Meenangadi is on its way to become India's first carbon-neutral village.

The Earth continues to warm. The effects of this global warming are profound, and have a devastating impact on communities, nature and infrastructure. Forests and trees, like those planted in Meenangadi, can play a key role in addressing climate change. They absorb greenhouse gases, regulate water flow, and protect communities from extreme events and rising sea levels. They also provide migrating plant and animal species routes to access resilient habitats. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India’s forests and soil can potentially store an additional 7 billion tonnes of carbon. It makes them crucial to our country reaching its net-zero goal by 2070.

A good beginning

At the moment, India is among a few countries that are well on track to achieve their climate goals. A lot more still needs to be done. To meet its commitments, India has set a target to create an additional carbon sink (anything that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases) of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through forests and trees by 2030. It also intends to increase forest cover to 33 per cent and restore 26 million hectares of land.

To this end, the government push is evident. In 2021-22 alone, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has been allocated Rs 2,870 crore, of which 27 per cent is for centrally sponsored schemes on environment, forests and wildlife, 16 per cent is towards pollution control and about 5 per cent is towards environment protection, management, and sustainable development. It has announced initiatives such as National Mission for a Green India, National Afforestation Programme and Trees Outside Forests in India to increase the country’s green cover. Leading Indian companies are also investing in trees and forests (the Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development is nurturing a 170-acre ecosystem around its township in Mithapur).

It has shown some results. India’s State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021, released earlier this year, states that the country’s tree and forest cover has increased by 2,261 sq. km. Forests covered 21.71 per cent of the total geographic area of the country. Madhya Pradesh (77,493 sq km) had the largest forest cover among the states, while Mizoram (84.53%) had the highest percentage of forest cover.

The many roadblocks
The report has raised some concerns though. ‘Forest’, for example, is referred to “all patches of land, with a tree canopy density of more than 10% and more than one hectare in area, irrespective of land-use, ownership and species of trees”. It means private tea gardens in Assam, coconut plantations in Tamil Nadu, green areas in Delhi and even invasive plant species in the Kutch are included.

“Historically, greening programmes have used non-native species to increase forest cover, specifically in drylands. The most commonly used species is Prosopis juliflora (found across India). Similarly, lantana, introduced for beautification purposes, now covers large patches of forest lands. These forested areas, however, are not substitutions of native forests,” says Chetan Misher, research scholar and biologist with the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment.

Invasive plant species such as Prosopis juliflora are included under the term forest in ISFR 2021. (Photo: Aditya Madhav via Wikimedia Commons)

Global Forest Watch, an initiative of the World Resources Institute, contradicts the report’s findings. It shows that between 2001-2021, India lost 2.07 million hectares of its tree cover amounting to 1.01Gt of CO₂ equivalent emissions. This is concerning. “A degraded forest ecosystem will only exacerbate the frequency and intensity of climate change events such as unprecedented rain in the monsoon and severe droughts,” says Tanmay Shah, an independent biologist who has been working towards forest conservation in Odisha for a decade.

Loss of forests hurts the economy too. According to a study by The Energy and Resource Institute, the degradation of India’s forests is depriving the country of 1.4 per cent of its GDP annually.

Act now

Still, at COP26 in Glasgow, India chose to stay away from the Declaration on Forests and Land Use as it linked infrastructure development and related activities with the conservation of forests . The leaders who did sign committed to “halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030”. They represented close to 90% of the world’s forests. COP27 will see the inaugural meeting of member countries, as they take stock of progress and discuss successes, challenges and priorities for future collaboration.

India’s participation is crucial for conservation, restoration and regeneration of forests in the country, and to meet global goals. Yet its challenge cannot be underestimated. With a population of more than 1.4 billion, it has to adopt a nature-positive development pathway while meeting the needs of its citizens. “As a first step, we need to move away from the term "reforestation". It undermines the value of other ecosystems such as deserts, grasslands, or ravines, and is a major driver of blanket plantation everywhere without considering the actual state of the ecosystem and its role in biodiversity and people's livelihood,” says Misher.

India has a long tradition in the conservation and restoration of trees and forests — from women of Uttarakhand who mobilised the Chipko movement in the 1970s to Mumbaikars who rallied to save mangroves. Even today, forests are at the heart of the country’s climate commitments. “They are essential to mitigate the effects of climate change and safeguard ecosystems for future generations. We must do everything to protect and preserve them,” says Shah.