Afforestation Schemes Are Driven by Urbanisation and Tree Outside Forest: A Case Study of India

Increasing urbanisation acts as a contributor to deforestation. Afforestation schemes are one of the preferred approaches to the recovery of forest cover. However, the relationship between urbanisation and afforestation schemes has not yet been explored. Taking India as a case study, the study used secondary data from Indian State of Forest Report (ISFR), Census of India and state/UT forest department webpages. Data from these sources were used to investigate which factors are related to the number of afforestation schemes adopted in the Indian states and Union Territories (UTs). The study found 151 afforestation schemes in Indian states/UTs, with states such as Odisha (17) and Uttar Pradesh (15) having the largest number of schemes. A strong relationship was found between the number of afforestation schemes with the state’s urbanisation and Tree Outside Forests (TOF) signifying them as drivers of number of afforestation schemes in Indian states/UTs. Only 49 tree species (13 introduced) constituted the dominant urban tree species. States with the least number of dominating native species had more than five schemes and 50% urban coverage of just five trees. Urbanisation and urban coverage of trees were influential factors in States/UTs with 10 schemes. This study highlighted the need to consider state-specific afforestation factors such as land use changes and not generalising based on only urbanisation while formulating afforestation schemes to achieve the greening objectives.