India seeks to hike its green cover by planting thousands of trees outside forest areas and creating green zones in and around human habitations over the next five years with $25 million in funding from USAID.
The programme by the Union Environment Ministry and USAID would expand India’s tree coverage in 28 lakh hectares of land in seven states - Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.
This would be done by bringing together farmers, companies, and private institutions for rapidly expanding tree coverage outside of traditional forests.
Through agroforestry, or integrating trees into farming systems, the scheme also aims to improve the resilience of farming systems while increasing the income of farmers.
"The programme would be having two components – tree-based enterprises outside forests and for public goods in common areas where people live. We are committed to plant indigenous species best suited for a particular agro-climatic zone,” said Milind Bunyan, a conservation specialist working at the Bengaluru-based Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, who is associated with the programme.
The scientists would help identify the right kind of tree species, procure quality planting material and set up a system to certify the produce like fruit or timber that came out of such tree zones.
The public goods zones, on the other hand, will not have any commercial linkage but would serve as a green area in and around human localities. “Digital tools would be developed to identify potential areas. The focus would be on planting the right species, at the right places and for the right reasons,” Bunyan told DH.
The program, according to a USAID statement, would use innovative financing models and leverage India’s private sector to promote tree-based enterprises, helping to create sustainable markets and improve rural economies and livelihoods, with the potential to benefit more than 13 million people.
A section of conservationists, however, expressed concerns on where the trees would be planted and on the role played by the private sector because of their track records in serving the needs of rural economies or livelihoods in India.
A consortium led by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) would execute the programme.