Lok Sabha Question No. 4349 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-13
Subject: National Afforestation Programme
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Mohanbhai Kalyanji Kundariya, Soyam Babu Rao

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTIO N NO.4349

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2019

## National Afforestation Programme

## 4349.  SHRI MOHANBHAI KALYANJI KUNDARIYA: SHRI SOYAM BAPU RAO:

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE  CHANGE  be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether the Department of Forests is promoting plantation of fruit bearing trees in the forests;
- (b) if  so,  the  percentage  of  fruit  bearing  trees  that  have  been  planted  in  the  country, State/UT-wise;
- (c) the  strategies  formulated  by  the  Government  for  the  conservation,  management  and development of forests in the country;
- (d) the  salient  features  of  National  Afforestation  Programme,  along  with  its  aims  and objectives;
- (e) the problems faced by the Government in implementing this programme; and
- (f) the amount of funds released and utilized under National Afforestation Programme since its inception?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

- (a) &  (b)The Ministry of Environment, Forest and  Climate  Change  (MoEFCC)  is implementing  plantation/afforestation  schemesin  the  forest  areas  with  participatory approach.  The  plantation  species  under  the  schemes  is  selected  by  the  implementing agencies/the members of Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMC) on the basis of their needs, ecological conditions and other local factors in consultation with the Forest Department. The native forest species are encouraged for plantation in the forest areas giving  importance  to  trees  with  multiple  uses.  MoEFCC  has  not  issued  any  specific direction  for  plantation  of  fruit  bearing  trees  as  it  is  decided  by  the  JFM  Committees considering local conditions and the micro plan of the area.
- (c) The  conservation  and  development  of  forest  primarily  involves  three  strategies  afforestation  through  natural/artificial  regeneration,  protection  and  management.  The ministry  is  implementing  three  major  schemes  for  development  of  forest  areas i.e. National Afforestation Programme (NAP) scheme, National Mission for a Green India (GIM) and Forest Fire Prevention & Management Scheme (FFPM). While NAP is being implemented  for  afforestation  of  degraded  forest  lands,  GIM  aims  at  improving  the quality  of  forest  and  increase  in  forest  cover  besides  cross  sectoral  activities  on landscape basis.TheFFPMtakes care of forest fire prevention and management

measures.For  scientific  management  of  forests,  the  States  prepare  management  plan called  Working  Plan  which  highlights  various  activities  to  be  undertaken  in  a  forest division  for  effective  management  of  forest.  The  working  plan  is  approved  by  the Ministry.Besides, the funds collected under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management  and  Planning  Authority  (CAMPA),  as  compensatory  levies  from  states inter-alia ,  is  also  used  in  plantation  activity  including  compensatory  afforestation  by States/UTs.

- (d) & (e) The overall objective of the National Afforestation Programme (NAP) scheme isecological  restoration  of  degraded  forests  and  to  develop  the  forest  resources with peoples' participation, with focus on improvement in livelihoods of the forest-fringe communities,  especially  the  poor.  NAP  aims  to  support  and  accelerate  the  on-going process  of  devolving  forest  conservation,  protection,  management  and  development functions tothe Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) at the village level, which are  registered  societies.  The  scheme  is  implemented  by  three  tier  institutional  setup through  the  State  Forest  Development  Agency  (SFDA)  at  the  state  level,  Forest Development Agency (FDA) at the forest division level and JFMCs at village level.

The  major  components  of  the  scheme  includes  afforestation  under  Seven  plantation models, maintenance of previous years plantations and Ancillary Activities like soil and moisture  conservation  activities  (SMC),  fencing,  overheads,  monitoring  and  evaluation (M&E), micro-planning, awareness raising, Entry Point Activities (EPA) etc.

The Scheme is demand driven and afforestation area is sanctioned on the basis of past performance, potential degraded forest land available for eco-restoration and availability of budget. The Annual Plan of Operation (APO) of SFDAs is approved as per Guidelines of  NAP.  NAP  is  a  centrally  sponsored  scheme  which  is  implemented  with  the  fund sharing pattern of 60: 40 percent between Centre and States wherein the sharing pattern for Northeastern and hilly States is 90:10. The central share of funds are released through State Government and state government transfers the funds to SFDA along with its state share which sometime causes delay in fund availability to SFDAs for implementation of NAPcausing  delay  in  submission  of    mandatory  documents  for  subsequent  release  of funds.

- (f) Since  inception  ofthe  NAP  (2000-2002)  an  amount  of  Rs.3874.02  crores  has  been released  till  2018-19  to  various  States  and  is  being  utilized  for  treatment/afforestation over 21 lakh hectare sanctioned area.

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