Forest restoration: How ready is India?

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Forest restoration: How ready is India?

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• UNBS: The UN Biodiversity Summit (Oct 2020) saw India's commitment to restore 2.6 crore ha of land by 2030. The decade 2021-30 is UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. Also, there's the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework coming up. The idea is to save degrading ecosystems - terrestrial and freshwater.
• Forest landscapes: They are crucial in battling climate change and a range of ecosystem services. The Paris Climate agreement (Art. 5) wants countries to reverse deforestation and forest degradation so that GHG sinks can enhance. The NDCs reflect those commitments. [GHG - GreenHouse Gases, NDC - Nationally Determined Contributions]
• The Bonn Challenge: This initiative in 2011 targeted restoration of 150 m ha of degraded and deforested landscapes by 2020, and 350 m ha by 2030. India joined in 2015 with the promise of 21 mha, and in 2019, it was raised to 26 mha by 2030. [The Bonn Challenge was launched by German govt. and IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)]
• India's NDC: India has committed additional creation of carbon sink of 2.5 - 3 billion tonnes CO2 equivalent, through more forests and trees, by 2030. The NDCs are in line with the Indian commitments towards 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• FLR a long-term process: Forest Landscape Restoration works at regaining ecological functionality, enhancing human well-being in degraded landscapes and delivering many goods and services for multiple stakeholders. But effective implementation of FLR needs coordinated implementation. Its key aspects are - defining FLR, establishing baseline, monitoring and so on.
• Standardisation needed: The multiple definitions on FLR potential now need to be standardised. 

1. As per the 2016 Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas by ISRO, 96.4 m ha land (30% of India) was undergoing desertification and land degradation. 
2. As per Forest Survey of India (FSI), 63 m ha of land is worth restoration (spread over many types of land). But remote-sensing data gives only a macro-picture, not a fine ground-level actionable plan. That needs to be prepared.

• MoEFCC's Bonn Committee: The Environment ministry has made the Bonn Challenge Consultative Committee to guide the progress under the Bonn Challenge. It will work towards minimising the ambiguity surrounding FLR implementation in India by synchronising the multiple definitions available.
• Baseline year: India needs a baseline year to assess progress, and either 2011 (year when Bonn Challenge launched) or 2015 (India made the pledge) can be taken. This clarity will help measure achievement of FLR properly.
• Monitoring and reporting: Good quality data is needed to regularly monitor and report, and then adapt the management practices. How local communities are benefiting from restoration needs to be seen. Do not reinvent the wheel; rather use existing national monitoring frameworks like GIM framework - Green India Mission.
• Micro planning: What will be the institutional arrangement at landscape level for FLR? The local initiatives will be best decided by locals, as social benefits will vary a lot. Existing institutions are useful - Joint Forest Management, Forest Protection Committee, Van Panchayats and Gram Sabhas. 
• Present forest management policy: It has three objectives - (a) managing forests for water which includes groundwater recharge and maintaining surface and sub-surface flows, (b) managing forests as a carbon sink, and (c) managing forests for ensuring livelihood and sustenance of direct dependents. If India can have clarity in objectives, then national and international commitments can be met.

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