Context: In fight against climate change and its impact, Forest landscape restoration has gained focus.
According to the IUCN, deforestation and forest degradation contribute around 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Typically, governments have relied on afforestation and reforestation as a means of establishing trees on non-treed land.
These strategies have now evolved. The focus is now on forest landscape restoration — the process of regaining ecological functionality and improving human welfare across deforested or degraded forest landscapes.
Forest landscape restoration
Forest landscape restoration seeks to involve communities in the process of designing and executing mutually advantageous interventions for the upgradation of landscapes.
Nearly two billion hectares of degraded land in the world (and 140 million hectares in India) have scope for potential restoration as forest land.
Crucial Aspect
A crucial aspect of this process is to ensure the diversity of the species while planting trees.
Natural forests with diverse native tree species are more efficient in sequestering carbon than monoculture tree plantations.
Planting diverse species is also healthier for local communities and their livelihoods
Importance of forest
Forests are integral in regulating ecosystems, influencing the carbon cycle and mitigating the effects of climate change.
Annually, forests absorb roughly 2.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. This absorption includes nearly 33% of the carbon dioxide released from burning fossil fuels.
Millions of lives and livelihoods are intertwined with our forests.
Forests are a boon for local communities and their livelihoods by functioning as a resource base for goods and services.
Forest ecosystems enrich soil fertility and water availability, enhancing agricultural productivity, and in turn the rural economy.
Tree planting prevents erosion and stems flooding.
Sustainable forest crops reduce food insecurity and empower women, allowing them to gain access to more nutritional diets and new income streams.
Agroforestry lessens rural-to-urban migration and contributes to an increase in resources and household income.
India and programmes
India joined the Bonn Challenge in 2015, pledging to restore 26 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2030.
An additional carbon sink of 5 billion-3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through forest and tree cover is to be created by 2030 as announced recently.
Government programmes includes Compensatory Afforestation, the National Afforestation Programme, the National Mission for a Green India (Green India Mission), the Nagar Van scheme and the Forest Fire Prevention and Management Scheme to name a few.
There is a spotlight on youth via the Green Skill Development Programme for youth who aspire to attain employment in the environment and forest sectors.
However, forest restoration in India faces hurdles in terms of the identification of areas for restoration, a lack of importance accorded to research and scientific strategies in tree planting, stakeholders’ conflicts of interest, and financing.
What is the right way to undertake tree plantation drives?
Forest landscape restoration must be implemented proactively, bolstering landscapes and forest ecosystems to be durable and adjustable in the face of future challenges and societal needs.
It also needs the involvement and the alignment of a host of stakeholders including the community, champions, government and landowners.
Vulnerable forest-dependent communities should be factored in, and any effort should be tailored to the local socio-economic context and landscape history of a region.
