Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Paper 3- Forest landscape restoration

This month is time for Van Mahotsav, which literally means “celebrate the forest”.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), deforestation and forest degradation contribute around 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The total area occupied by primary forests in India has decreased by 3.6%.
Tree planting comes with varied environmental and ecological benefits.
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.
Livelihood: Forests are a boon for local communities and their livelihoods by functioning as a resource base for goods and services.
Enrich soil fertility: According to academics from the World Resources Institute, forest ecosystems enrich soil fertility and water availability, enhancing agricultural productivity, and in turn the rural economy.
Prevents erosion and flooding: 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.
Planting trees is deeply linked to the ‘wholistic’ well-being of all individuals, the community, and the planet.

Typically, governments have relied on afforestation and reforestation as a means of establishing trees on non-treed land. These strategies have now evolved.
Focus on forest landscape restoration: The focus is now on forest landscape restoration — the process of regaining ecological functionality and improving human welfare across deforested or degraded forest landscapes.
Community participation: 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.
Ensuring diversity of species: 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.
An international study published earlier this year in the journal, Science, found that diversifying species in forest plantations has a positive impact on the quality of the forests.

The span 2021-2030 is the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, emphasising efforts to restore degraded terrestrial ecosystems including forests.
Bonn Challenge: In 2011, the Bonn Challenge was launched with a global goal to restore 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested landscapes by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030.
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 2.5 billion-3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through forest and tree cover is to be created by 2030.
There are a myriad government programmes such as 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.
The Green Skill Development Programme is for the youth who aspire to attain employment in the environment and forest sectors.

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.

To be successful, 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.
Involvement of stakeholders: It also needs the involvement and the alignment of a host of stakeholders including the community, champions, government and landowners.
Participatory governance: The restoration of natural forest ecosystems can be strengthened through participatory governance by engaging stakeholders.
Taking into account socio-economic context: 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.

In today’s world, forests need to be celebrated more than ever before. Simultaneously, more forests need to be created and restored.

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