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With wood and histrion screen spanning 25.17% of India’s geographical area, according to the India State of Forest Report 2023, they are integral to its ecological information and agrarian livelihoods. They enactment millions of people, prolong agriculture and supply renewable resources that tin thrust a caller procreation of bio-based industries. As India advances towards climate-resilient improvement and a circular economy, forests and tree-based systems are emerging arsenic cardinal pillars of the bioeconomy.
The taxable of this year’s International Day of Forests (March 21) — “Forests and Economies” — is timely and underscores the planetary value of forests.
Sustaining livelihoods and economies
According to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), forests screen astir 31% of the world’s onshore country and enactment the livelihoods of much than 1.6 cardinal people.
In India, forests prolong millions of livelihoods, peculiarly among tribal and forest-dependent communities. Forest products specified arsenic wood, timber, bamboo, honey, medicinal plants, gums, resins, tendu leaves, mahua flowers and chaotic foods supply captious sources of income and nutrition. India’s bamboo resources, often referred to arsenic “green gold”, are besides supporting increasing industries ranging from handicrafts to operation and different bio-based materials, portion besides providing alternatives for wood and timber.
Forests supply indispensable ecosystem services and are location to millions of taxon of biodiversity. They play a captious relation successful supporting agriculture and economical stability. By sustaining watersheds and recharging aquifers, forests assistance support reliable h2o supplies crossed seasons. They besides amended ungraded fertility and enactment pollinators — services that are captious for cultivation productivity, clime resilience and semipermanent nutrient security.
Agroforestry — integrating trees with crops and livestock—offers 1 of the effectual pathways for strengthening forest-based economies. Tree-based farming improves ungraded health, enhances biodiversity and diversifies farmers’ incomes done timber, fruits, fodder and biomass. It besides provides an important information nett for farmers during periods of harvest failure.
Across India, accepted and indigenous farming systems show however forests, biodiversity and agriculture tin coexist productively. Strengthening these systems with innovation, sustainable worth chains and improved marketplace entree tin unlock caller economical opportunities for agrarian communities.
The FAO’s role
The FAO works with governments and partners worldwide to beforehand sustainable wood absorption and forest-based livelihoods.
In India, the FAO supports agroecology, agroforestry and community-based earthy assets absorption done projects funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), helping farmers follow practices that support biodiversity portion improving incomes.
Under the programme supported by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the FAO volition beforehand agroforestry models designed specifically for tiny and marginal farmers, women farmers, and tribal and different susceptible communities successful India. Recognising that the impacts of clime alteration autumn disproportionately connected these groups, the programme identifies suitable agroforestry models arsenic a cardinal adaptation strategy. To guarantee economical viability, the programme undertakes rigorous cost-benefit investigation and worth concatenation studies for some timber- and non-timber-based agroforestry systems, truthful that tree-based farming becomes a applicable and sustainable livelihood enactment for tiny and marginal farmers, tribal households, women farmers and different susceptible communities.
Scaling up agroforestry besides requires reliable nursery systems and prime planting material. Recognising this, the FAO supported the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, successful processing protocols for certified Quality Planting Material (QPM) for accumulation and nursery certification for timber and non-timber agroforestry species, helping fortify nursery standards and grow sustainable agroforestry crossed the country.
A telephone to put successful forests
Healthy forests enactment steadfast economies. When forests are degraded, the consequences — from ungraded erosion and flooding to biodiversity nonaccomplishment and clime impacts — often outweigh the short-term gains from unsustainable exploitation.
On this International Day of Forests, the connection is clear: investing successful forests is investing successful clime resilience, agrarian livelihoods and sustainable growth.
For India, expanding agroforestry, strengthening forest-product worth chains and promoting circular biomass systems tin unlock caller opportunities for greenish industries and resilient agrarian economies. Protecting forests is, therefore, not lone an biology work but besides an concern successful a much sustainable and prosperous future.
Takayuki Hagiwara is the FAO Representative successful India and a portion of Team UN successful India
