Compensatory afforestation policy in India: an analysis using an ecorestoration lens

Abstract

India is on track to meet the Bonn Challenge pledge by showcasing its ambitious compensatory afforestation programme. But a question remains regarding the extent to which this programme has achieved the restoration of degraded forests. Using the lens of ecological restoration, mitigation hierarchy and compensatory conservation, the performance of compensatory afforestation policy in India is analyzed. It was found that this policy has significant shortcomings, namely, (i) it does not stipulate ending the drivers of degradation as a pre-condition before initiating afforestation, (ii) it permits only a uniform reconstructive afforestation approach, and (iii) it does not provide guidance on the selection of sites and species for plantation. Evidence from field evaluation studies points to poor restoration outcomes owing to the selection of unsuitable sites, preference for hardy species, poor plant survival, lack of community involvement and inconsistent monitoring. A revision of the compensatory afforestation policy is recommended by graduating to an ecological restoration regime if the country is to meet its international commitments of forest landscape restoration, biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration.