Context

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) has announced that March 21 would be celebrated as the International Day of Forests.

Details

  • This proclamation by UNGA is aimed at spreading awareness about forests and their importance.
  • Countries will organise programmes to promote the plantation of trees that helps in;
    • Increasing forest cover
    • Conservation of biodiversity
    • Counter climate change

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Initiatives by India

  • The government has spent huge amounts of rupees to increase the forest cover through tree planting.
  • Recently, the Union government launched a ₹19,000 crore afforestation programme that aims to rejuvenate 13 major rivers under the National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board.
  • The government claims that “this project would increase ‘forest’ cover by 7,417.36 square kilometres in the vicinity of these rivers”. 

Editorial Analysis For UPSC IAS Current Affairs Preparation

Issues with tree plantation programmes

  • Loss of complex ecosystems
    • Forest is a complex ecosystem that is built over years of the interplay between various creatures such as birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, fungi, microorganisms, and other factors such as water, soil, climate, etc.
    • Tree plantation programmes that are simply aimed at planting trees ensure green cover but do not compensate for the loss of complex ecosystems such as the forests.
  • Loss of biodiversity
    • All the trees help in carbon sequestration and reduce pollution, even the ones that are invasive.
    • Invasive species have the ability to alter the entire ecosystem, which will result in the extinction of certain species.
    • Examples:
      • Conversion of natural grasslands to wooded areas through tree plantations now threatens the existence of the Great Indian Bustard.
      • The Jayamangali Conservation Reserve, a grassland in Karnataka, which was home to wolves, now has an increased leopard population due to extensive plantation of Acacia, Eucalyptus and Tamarind trees. 
      • Ecosystems such as woodland savanna, laterite grasslands, scrubland, wetlands and rocky outcrops that home unique biodiversity have now transformed into sterile landscapes due to extensive tree planting.
  • Loss of native species
    • The tree-planting campaigns propagate extensive plantations of neem, peepal, and banyan trees throughout the country despite them being non-native in many parts of the country. 
    • This results in the loss of native species which are crucial for the ecological balance.

Editorial Analysis For UPSC IAS Current Affairs Preparation

Recommendations

  • Tree-planting activities must be carefully planned such that they are friendly to local biodiversity.
  • It is important to realise that the native vegetation and the local biodiversity also play an important role in the formation of forests
  • One should plant the right tree in the right place along with the right reason.
  • The results of such initiatives and campaigns must be carefully monitored and examined, to understand more about the consequences.
  • Another solution is to let forests come back on their own through
  • Adoption of more economical and sustainable initiatives such as assisted natural regeneration methods wherein the forests rejuvenate on their own through protection.
    • Reports suggest that natural regeneration methods absorb 40 times more carbon than plantations and also host more biodiversity.

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