Losing forest for trees: On the CAG’s audit of the Green India Mission
India is counting trees when it should be restoring forests
A recent performance audit from India's Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has revealed that the Green India Mission (GIM) has fallen short of its ambitious goals. Instead of transforming 1.4 million hectares of forest, the mission has only managed to improve 0.11 million hectares — less than a tenth of its target. In terms of expanding forest cover, the mission managed to cover just four percent.
The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (now known as VB-G RAM G) were designed to support GIM through funding and rural wage labor. However, these schemes were never effectively integrated. Established in 2008 as one of eight pillars of the National Action Plan on Climate Change, GIM was meant to help India fulfill its commitment to the Paris Agreement, promising an additional 2.5 billion to 3 billion tonnes of carbon sink by 2030.
Initially conceived with ecological objectives in mind — including biodiversity, water conservation, carbon sequestration, and habitat restoration — GIM appears to have been sidelined, replaced by a smaller tree plantation initiative called 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' (A Tree in the Name of Mother) launched in 2024. While the government claims to have planted 140 crore saplings, the India State of Forest Report 2023 paints a different picture, showing a forest gain of only 1,445 square kilometers, with 1,289 square kilometers classified as tree cover outside recorded forests. Dense canopy in recorded forests has thinned significantly, and true forest areas are dwindling.
Examples of this trend are evident in the controversy surrounding the Aravallis, a range that has been heavily degraded through quarrying and the invasion of invasive species like 'vilayati kikar' (Prosopis juliflora). Efforts to revive this range through a 'Green Wall' planting initiative are unlikely to undo the damage caused by years of mining or restore the ecosystem that took millennia to form.
Restoration efforts are not the same as landscaping, and while the CAG's audit can count hectares and funds, it cannot fully capture the value of a thriving, living forest or the practical challenges of implementing such ambitious missions.
Despite these shortcomings, the CAG's assessment remains significant. The audit underscores the gap between planting trees and creating functional forests. As India continues to grapple with environmental challenges, the question remains: can a mission to restore forests be revived, or has it become little more than an exercise in counting trees?
Written by urgent.news from The Hindu - Sci-Tech's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
