As India navigates the twin imperatives of economic growth and sustainable development, forests are once again finding their rightful place in the national climate conversation. The recent release of the revised blueprint for the Green India Mission (GIM) puts restoration at the forefront. The ambition is bold: restore 25 million hectares of degraded forest and non-forest land by 2030.
This isn’t just about greening land for its own sake. It directly ties to India’s climate pledge to create an additional carbon sink of up to 3.39 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent by the end of this decade. The big question is not just how much land India restores, but how it restores it.
Quality question
A 2025 study by IIT Kharagpur, in collaboration with IIT Bombay and BITS Pilani, reported a 12% decline in photosynthetic efficiency of dense forests across India. The main cause? Rising temperatures and drying soil. Put simply, while India may be growing its forest cover, these forests are becoming less effective at absorbing carbon. This discovery challenges the old assumption that “more trees equal more carbon sinks” and instead highlights the need for restoration that enhances ecological resilience, not just canopy cover.
The revised GIM is not starting from scratch. Between 2015 and 2021, the Mission supported afforestation across 11.22 million hectares, with ₹575 crore disbursed to 18 states. During this period, forest and tree cover increased from 24.16% in 2015 to 25.17% in 2023.
The new blueprint expands the lens, focusing on biodiversity-rich landscapes like the Aravalli Hills, Western Ghats, mangroves, and Himalayan catchments. It also aims to link efforts with other government programmes such as the National Agroforestry Policy, watershed initiatives, and the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA). But as with most ambitious missions, the challenge lies in turning policy into practice.
India’s afforestation story has long wrestled with three stubborn gaps: community participation, ecological design, and financing.
Nearly 200 million Indians depend on forests for daily survival. The Forest Rights Act (2006) legally empowers them to manage and protect their landscapes. Yet in practice, many plantation drives bypass these communities, ignoring their claims and consent. This erodes trust and undermines both legality and social legitimacy. However, there are bright spots. In Odisha, Joint Forest Management Committees are integrated into planning and revenue-sharing. In Chhattisgarh, forest departments are experimenting with biodiversity-sensitive plantations and reviving barren cattle shelters by planting mahua trees, aligning ecology with tribal livelihoods.
Going native
For decades, afforestation has leaned heavily on monocultures of eucalyptus or acacia, which are fast-growing, yes, but ecologically damaging. They deplete groundwater, crowd out native biodiversity, and leave forests vulnerable to climate stress. The revised GIM promises a shift toward native, site-specific species, which is encouraging.
However, the real test is whether local forest departments possess the necessary expertise and capacity to deliver. India already has training institutes in Uttarakhand, Coimbatore, and Byrnihat that could be harnessed to equip frontline staff with ecological know-how. Some States are leading the way. Tamil Nadu, for instance, has nearly doubled its mangrove cover in just three years, offering both carbon storage and coastal protection.
Perhaps the biggest bottleneck is financing. The CAMPA fund now holds a staggering ₹95,000 crore, yet utilisation is inconsistent. Delhi, for example, spent only 23% of its approved funds between 2019 and 2024. GIM itself has had to make do with modest allocations, relying heavily on CAMPA.
The way forward isn’t just about more money, but about smarter use of it. The good news is that some States are experimenting with new financing tools. Himachal Pradesh has launched a biochar programme to generate carbon credits while reducing fire risks. Uttar Pradesh has planted over 39 crore saplings this year and is exploring how to connect village councils to carbon markets.
Building blocks
Despite the hurdles, India has the building blocks: strong legal frameworks, sizeable financing pools, institutional capacity, and promising local models. What’s needed is alignment.
Communities must be empowered to lead. Forest departments need the skills and incentives to prioritise ecological restoration over plantation targets. The central government can enhance accountability by implementing public dashboards that track survival rates, species mix, fund utilisation, and community participation. CAMPA could broaden its scope to cover participatory planning and adaptive management, rather than sticking narrowly to planting. Civil society and research institutions also have a role, from providing technical expertise to designing participatory monitoring tools. This shared effort is what can transform GIM from a government programme into a national movement.
As India looks toward Viksit Bharat 2047, forests are not merely an environmental concern; they are the future capital. The path to restoring 25 million hectares is not easy, but if pursued with rigour, inclusion, and foresight, it could reshape how the world thinks about restoration.
C.K. Mishra is a former secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; Suryaprabha Sadasivan is Senior Vice President at Chase Advisors. Views expressed are personal.
Published – November 05, 2025 01:14 am IST
