Forests for People

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Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister of Environment and Forests, Government of India

Forests in India are integral to environment, economy, culture and traditions. They provide a range of

essential ecosystem services in addition to valuable timber, fuelwood, fodder and non-timber forest

products (NTFP) for sustainable livelihood of rural people and forest-dependent communities.

The National Forest Policy, 1988 provides the roadmap for sustainable management of forest with people’s

participation through Joint Forest Management which is based upon a ‘care and share’ principle. This,

coupled with enactment of supportive acts, provides a sound legal framework to the forest management and

ecological security of the country.

In accordance with the Millennium Development Goals, India has taken steps to make an impact on poverty

by promoting NTFP development for people living in and around forests for sustenance and supplemental

income. The recently launched Green India Mission, one of the missions under the National Action Plan on

Climate Change, acknowledges the role of the forestry sector in environmental amelioration through climate

mitigation, food and water security, biodiversity conservation and livelihood security of forest-dependent

communities and strives for increase in forest cover of 5 million hectares as well as quality improvement of

another 5 million hectares.

While addressing the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities – focusing on poverty alleviation

and maintaining the habitat of Protected Area Networks for wildlife management – India is one of the few

countries where the forest and tree cover has shown an increase of around 3 million hectares between 1997

and 2007, as well as improving quality of life by promoting urban greening in towns and metro cities, such as

Delhi, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Bangalore.

I wish all success to the UNFF for its endeavour in bringing out this landmark publication,

Forests for People

in the International Year of Forests, 2011.

Jayanthi Natarajan

Minister of Environment and Forests

Government of India