India showcases Forest and Landscape Restoration Initiatives at COFO 28, in Rome

1. At a Glance

• At the 28th Session of FAO's Committee on Forestry (COFO 28) in Rome, India reported its progress on Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR), Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) and climate action [1].
• India presented its main restoration programmes: the Bonn Challenge pledge, the Aravalli Green Wall, MISHTI (mangroves), Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam and the expansion of its Ramsar sites [1].
• India asked for international cooperation that funds country-driven implementation, capacity development, technology transfer and measurable outcomes [1].
• Relevance for UPSC: GS-III (environment, climate) and GS-II (international institutions). Prelims is likely to test the numbers (82.74 Mha, 25.17%, 26 Mha, 101 Ramsar sites, 3.5–4.0 bn t CO₂e).

2. Why in the News

• 28 Sep 2026: MoEFCC delivered India's Statement at COFO 28, held in Rome from 28 Sep to 2 Oct 2026 [1][3].
• COFO 28 was built around FLR. Its theme track is "Restoring forests and landscapes – the way forward for a sustainable future", and SOFO 2026 (State of the World's Forests) is also focused on FLR [2][3].
• India committed to help shape the proposed UN Decade for Afforestation and Reforestation in line with SFM, 2027–2036 [1].

3. Background & Evolution

• COFO: FAO's highest forestry governing body. It meets biennially and brings together heads of forest services and senior officials to advise FAO [2]. FAO's online archive of sessions goes back to 1997 [3].
• Bonn Challenge (2011): launched by Germany and IUCN. The original goal was 150 Mha under restoration by 2020. It was extended to 350 Mha by 2030 in 2014 through the New York Declaration on Forests and the UN Climate Summit [8][9].
• Aravalli Green Wall Project: launched by Union Minister Bhupender Yadav to green a 5 km buffer around the Aravalli hill range across four states [5].
• MISHTI: a five-year initiative covering 2023–2028 [4].
• 2025: MoEFCC released a Detailed Action Plan for Aravalli Landscape Restoration with a phased plan for 2025–2034 [6]. The PM planted a sapling at Bhagwan Mahavir Vanasthali Park in Delhi, linking Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam with Aravalli reforestation [7].
• 2026: COFO 28. The FAO Forestry Roadmap 2024–2031 and the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2017–2030 are on its agenda [3].

4. Core Static Facts

Item	Fact	Src
Forum	COFO 28, FAO HQ Rome, 28 Sep–2 Oct 2026, hybrid format	[2][3]
COFO membership	128 Members; meets every two years	[2]
Indian ministry	MoEFCC	[1]
Forest + tree cover	82.74 Mha = 25.17% of geographical area	[1]
FAO FRA 2025 rank	9th in forest area; 3rd in net annual forest area gain	[1]
Carbon sink achieved	2.29 bn t CO₂e additional sink by 2021	[1]
Enhanced carbon-sink ambition	3.5–4.0 bn t CO₂e by 2035 vs 2005 levels	[1]
Bonn Challenge (India)	26 Mha by 2030; 21.76 Mha already under restoration	[1]
Aravalli Green Wall	~6.45 Mha identified (COFO statement); 6.31 Mha in the Action Plan; Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi; ~700 km range	[1][6][7]
MISHTI	2023–28; 4,536 ha restored in 2025; 22,560 ha of degraded mangroves identified across 13 States/UTs	[4]
Ramsar sites	101	[1]
Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam	>3.5 bn saplings (Sept 2026); 262.4 crore by 31 Dec 2025	[1][4]
Aravalli convergence	CAMPA, MGNREGS, Green India Mission	[6]

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Environmental

• FLR works at the landscape scale. It combines forest restoration, grassland rejuvenation and mine reclamation, as in the Aravalli plan [6].
• The Aravalli Green Wall acts as a barrier against desertification. Its priority areas are in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Delhi [6].
• MISHTI improves the climate resilience of coastal habitats by restoring mangroves [1][4].

Climate / Geopolitical

• Forests are central to India's NDC carbon-sink target of 3.5–4.0 bn t CO₂e by 2035 [1].
• India argues for climate, biodiversity and blended finance for developing countries, and for South-South and triangular cooperation [1].
• It wants FAO's forestry work to be consistent with the Global Forest Goals (UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2017–2030) [1][3].

Social / Economic

• MISHTI is designed to support local livelihoods alongside restoration [1].
• Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam is run as a whole-of-government and whole-of-society campaign, a Jan Bhagidari model [1].
• Convergence with MGNREGS links restoration to rural employment [6].

Administrative / Governance

• Restoration is financed through convergence of CAMPA, MGNREGS and the Green India Mission rather than a standalone budget [6].
• Measuring outcomes is a real problem. Aravalli has 6.3–6.45 Mha identified but only 36,025 ha restored in 2025, which is a large implementation gap [1][4].
• India called for "measurable outcomes on the ground", which implies MRV (measurement, reporting and verification) capacity [1].

Scientific / Technological

• FAO's Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) is the global benchmark for forest statistics. COFO 28 also takes up forest degradation assessment [1][3].
• Other agenda items include the Global Fire Management Hub (wildfire management) and forest-based bioeconomy [3].

6. Recent Developments (last 12–18 months)

• 2025: Detailed Action Plan for Aravalli Landscape Restoration, 2025–2034 [6].
• 2025: PM planted a sapling at Bhagwan Mahavir Vanasthali Park, Delhi, under Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam and the Aravalli reforestation effort [7].
• 2025: About 36,025 ha restored under Aravalli; MISHTI restored 4,536 ha [4].
• 31 Dec 2025: Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam reached 262.4 crore saplings [4].
• Nov 2025: Germany and IUCN marked 15 years of the Bonn Challenge [9].
• 2026: SOFO 2026 published with an FLR focus [2].
• 28 Sep 2026: India's Statement at COFO 28 reported Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam at >3.5 bn saplings and 101 Ramsar sites [1].

7. Prelims Hooks

• COFO is the highest FAO forestry governing body, meets biennially and has 128 Members [2].
• COFO 28 was held at FAO HQ, Rome, 28 Sep–2 Oct 2026 [3].
• India's forest and tree cover is 82.74 Mha, or 25.17% of its geographical area [1].
• FAO FRA 2025: India is 9th in forest area and 3rd in net annual forest area gain [1].
• India created an additional carbon sink of 2.29 bn t CO₂e by 2021 [1].
• India's new sink target is 3.5–4.0 bn t CO₂e by 2035, with 2005 as the base year [1].
• India's Bonn Challenge target is 26 Mha by 2030, of which 21.76 Mha is already under restoration [1].
• The Bonn Challenge was launched in 2011 by Germany and IUCN. Its global target is 350 Mha by 2030 [8][9].
• Aravalli Green Wall: a 5 km buffer around the Aravalli range in 4 states, launched by MoEFCC [5].
• MISHTI stands for Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes and runs from 2023 to 2028 [4].
• India has 101 Ramsar sites [1].
• Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam is also called Plant4Mother [1].
• The UN Decade for Afforestation and Reforestation, 2027–2036, is still only proposed [1].
• SOFO 2026 focuses on forest and landscape restoration [2].

8. What the Big Numbers Do Not Tell You

• "Identified" and "under restoration" do not mean "restored"
• For the Aravallis, 6.31–6.45 Mha of land has been identified, but only about 36,025 ha was restored in 2025 [1][4][6].
• At that speed, restoring 6.31 Mha would take roughly 175 years. The Action Plan runs only until 2034 [6].

• India's Bonn figure of 21.76 Mha is land under restoration. That counts the work started, not forest that has actually grown back [1].

• MISHTI shows what a realistic target looks like

• 22,560 ha of degraded mangroves were identified, and 4,536 ha were restored in 2025 [4].
• At that pace, the target can be met within the scheme's five years (2023–28). The Aravalli target cannot be met at its current pace.

• A useful Mains point: the target is only believable when its size matches the pace of work actually being done.

• A sapling count tells you about effort, not about the result

• Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam reports saplings planted: 262.4 crore by December 2025 and more than 3.5 bn by September 2026 [1][4].

• No survival figure (how many saplings are still alive after a few years) is published with these counts.

• The 82.74 Mha figure adds two different things together

• It is forest cover plus tree cover (trees outside forests, such as on farms and in towns) [1].
• So the headline figure cannot tell you whether natural forest is growing or just plantations and orchards.

9. Why Planting a Tree Is Not the Same as Growing a Forest

• Many planted saplings die, and audits have measured this
• A 2023 CAG audit of compensatory afforestation in Madhya Pradesh found plant survival between only 6% and 62% across five sites [10].
• The same audit found Rs 53 crore spent on activities that had nothing to do with compensatory afforestation [10].

• Compensatory afforestation (planting new forest to make up for forest land given to projects) is funded through CAMPA. CAMPA is one of the three funding channels for the Aravalli plan [6].

• The body meant to spend the money is weak on the ground

• In 2025, the Central Empowered Committee (a body set up by the Supreme Court to advise on forest cases) found that State CAMPA meetings are not held regularly [10].
• Many states have no dedicated CAMPA office. Where offices exist, they are short of staff and monitoring is weak [10].

• The Aravalli plan depends on CAMPA money, so these weaknesses carry straight into it [6].

• Why this matters for the carbon target

• Only a tree that survives and grows stores carbon. A sapling that dies in its first summer stores almost none.
• India's sink target of 3.5–4.0 bn t CO₂e depends on trees that survive, not on the number of saplings planted [1].

10. Asking the World for Money While Own Funds Go Unspent

• The objection: India's problem is not only a lack of money
• At COFO 28, India asked for climate, biodiversity and blended finance (public money mixed with private money) for restoration [1].
• At home, the Green India Mission spent only 28% of its budget in 2025-26 [10].
• PRS notes that the Mission "has consistently seen underutilisation of funds since 2020-21" [10].

• A critic would say: if India cannot spend the money it already has, more foreign money will not lead to more restoration.

• What the objection gets right

• Unspent funds show that the real problem is the capacity to deliver. There are too few staff, planting plans are not ready, and approvals are slow. The CEC's CAMPA findings point the same way [10].

• What it misses

• India did not ask only for money. It also asked for capacity development, technology transfer and "measurable outcomes on the ground" [1].

• These are exactly the weak links shown above. So the ask partly admits the problem and partly responds to it.

• The honest reading

• India's case abroad will be stronger once it can show, with numbers, that it spends its own funds and that its saplings survive.

11. Can a Green Wall Stand Next to Mines?

• The definition decides which hills get protection from mining
• Aravalli Hills are now defined as landforms rising 100 metres or more above local relief (the height above the lowest ground around them) [11].
• This comes from a 2002 Rajasthan committee report. Rajasthan has used it since 2006, and all states agreed to adopt it [11].

• The Supreme Court accepted this definition in its order of 20 November 2025 [11].

• Why this worries people

• Low hills and ridges under 100 m do not count as "Aravalli Hills" when mining is regulated.

• The Green Wall is meant to restore the same landscape, including through mine reclamation (repairing land damaged by mining) [6]. If one rule leaves low hills open to mining while another scheme spends money to restore the land around them, the two policies work against each other.

• The government's answer

• The Centre later announced that it would protect the entire Aravallis, grant no new mining leases, and expand the protected zone [12].
• For Mains: restoring land only works if the damage stops first. The Aravalli plan should be judged together with mining rules, not on its own.

12. What Africa's Great Green Wall Teaches the Aravalli Plan

• Africa's wall is the model, and its record is a warning
• The Great Green Wall across Africa's Sahel region aims to restore 100 Mha of degraded land by 2030 [13].
• Close to 18 Mha had been restored in the most recent reported progress update [13].

• The lesson: a big announced target is easy to set. The real test is delivery every year and money that actually reaches the ground.

• FAO's economic case for such walls

• An FAO-led study found that the Great Green Wall gives a viable return on investment [14].
• India can use this kind of evidence to support its request for blended finance. This only works if its own results can be measured.

13. Who Should Do What Next

• MoEFCC should publish survival rates alongside planting numbers
• For Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam and the Aravalli plan, report the saplings alive after 1 and 3 years, not only the saplings planted [1][4].

• Survival rates as low as the 6–62% found by CAG show why this matters [10].

• Report "identified", "under restoration" and "restored" as three separate numbers

• Mixing them up makes 21.76 Mha of Bonn progress look like finished forest [1].

• This is the MRV (measurement, reporting and verification) capacity that India itself asked for at COFO 28 [1].

• States should act on the CEC's CAMPA findings

• Hold State CAMPA meetings regularly, set up dedicated offices with staff, and monitor the work, as the Central Empowered Committee pointed out in 2025 [10].

• Fix the Green India Mission's spending before seeking more money

• The Mission has underspent every year since 2020-21, and used only 28% of its budget in 2025-26 [10]. Solving this makes India's call for international finance more believable.

• Keep mining rules in line with the Green Wall

• The pledge of no new mining leases and a larger protected zone [12] should cover the full 5 km buffer that the Green Wall covers [5].

14. Anchors for Answers

• Data: Aravalli restoration: about 36,025 ha restored in 2025, against 6.31 Mha identified. At that pace it would take about 175 years [4][6]
• Data: Green India Mission used only 28% of its 2025-26 budget, and has underspent since 2020-21 [10]
• Data: A CAG audit (Madhya Pradesh, 2023) found compensatory-afforestation plant survival of only 6–62% across five sites [10]
• Report/Committee: Central Empowered Committee, 2025. It found irregular State CAMPA meetings, understaffed offices and weak monitoring [10]
• Law/Case: Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 (CAMPA). Supreme Court order of 20 Nov 2025, which accepted the '100 m above local relief' definition of the Aravalli Hills [10][11]
• Comparison: Africa's Great Green Wall has restored close to 18 Mha against a 100 Mha target for 2030. Big targets need delivery every year to mean anything [13]
• Scheme: MISHTI: 4,536 ha restored in 2025 against 22,560 ha identified. A target sized to its pace, unlike the Aravalli plan [4]

15. Mains Relevance

• GS-III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, EIA; climate change.
• GS-II: Important international institutions (FAO) and their mandate; bilateral and global groupings affecting India.
• GS-I (secondary): Geography, specifically the Aravallis, desertification and coastal ecosystems.

Question stems

1. "Forest and Landscape Restoration goes beyond tree planting." Evaluate India's approach, using the Aravalli Green Wall and MISHTI as examples. (250 words)
2. India's carbon-sink commitments depend heavily on forests. Examine the gaps in finance, measurement and implementation that must be closed to reach the 2035 target. (250 words)
3. "International cooperation must move beyond global commitments to country-driven implementation." Discuss this in the context of global forest governance and India's position at FAO. (150 words)

16. Related Topics to Study Next

• India State of Forest Report (FSI): the national source for forest and tree cover figures.
• UNCCD and Land Degradation Neutrality: the policy logic behind the Aravalli wall and Bonn Challenge targets.
• Africa's Great Green Wall: the model for the Aravalli Green Wall.
• UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030): the existing decade that the proposed 2027–36 decade would follow.
• Green India Mission and CAMPA: the funding and convergence channels for restoration.
• Ramsar Convention and Amrit Dharohar: wetland conservation, now at 101 sites.
• India's updated NDC and LiFE Mission: the climate framework for the forest-sink target.
• Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023: the legal context for counting forest area.

17. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Two different Aravalli figures: the COFO statement says 6.45 Mha identified, while the 2025 Action Plan says 6.31 Mha [1][6]. "Identified" is not the same as "restored" (36,025 ha in 2025) [4].
• Two different sapling counts: Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam was 262.4 crore (2.62 bn) by Dec 2025 and >3.5 bn by Sept 2026 [1][4]. Be careful switching between crore and billion.
• FRA vs ISFR: the global rank (9th / 3rd) comes from FAO FRA 2025. The 25.17% figure is a national number [1]. Don't mix up the two sources.
• Bonn Challenge origin: it was launched by Germany and IUCN, not UNEP or FAO [8][9]. India's target is 26 Mha; the global target is 350 Mha [1][8].
• Two UN decades: the proposed Decade for Afforestation and Reforestation (2027–2036) is different from the existing UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030).
• Base year: the NDC forest-sink target uses 2005 levels as its baseline [1].