Missing the Wood for the Trees

India lacks the intention to protect its green cover, relying on misleading definitions, excluding forest communities and exercising poor oversight of conservation funds

- Nandini Keshari

Over the past two decades, India has lost nearly 15% of its total tree cover. According to Global Forest Watch, an online monitoring system, more than 3,48,000 hectares (ha) of humid primary forest have disappeared since 2002; 18,000 of them in 2024 alone. These aren't just trees. They are dense, centuries-old ecosystems that store carbon, regulate rainfall and provide habitat for thousands of species.

Forests in India have been absorbing an average of 80.3mn tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO₂e) every year since 2001. Their loss undermines India's pledge to sequester 2.5-3bn tonnes of CO₂e by 2030 under its Nationally Determined Contribution. If current trends continue, experts warn that that promise may not be kept.

India’s total carbon store is estimated at 6.13 gigatonnes (gt), most of it locked in biomass. When natural forests are cleared, that carbon is released back into the atmosphere.

The ecological fallout is vast: disrupted rainfall patterns, soil erosion, declining air quality and irreversible loss of biodiversity. Many species driven from their habitats can’t survive in plantations or degraded land.

Living in Delusion

India has a long list of laws and programmes designed to protect forests: The Forest Conservation Act, Joint Forest Management, the Forest Rights Act, the Green India Mission and Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (Campa). On paper, these appear robust. On the ground, the situation tells a different story.

While the Forest Rights Act aims to restore access and authority to forest-dwelling communities, rights curtailed by earlier laws, conflicts persist. In many cases, these communities are still excluded from decisions about land use and conservation. The result? Along with the communities, the forests suffer.