Restore, Conserve and Protect Forest and Tree Cover for NDC Implementation in India

Owing to socio-economic pressures, 43 percent of Indian forests are degraded. With 140 million hectars, the forest restoration potential is enormous. India is aiming at a national target for forest and tree cover of 33 percent, besides ambitious Bonn Challenge and NDC goals. Coordinated efforts of forest departments together with other line departments and institutions, decision-makers, local communities, and other stakeholders will support the translation of policy goals into action. In four states, the project supports key actors to effectively plan, finance, implement and monitor Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) and Trees Outside Forests (TOF) measures. By 2029, it aims to restore 0.4 million hectars of forest landscape. 10 million people will benefit from improved forest ecosystem services.

Project data

Countries: India
IKI funding: 17,500,000.00 €
Duration: 05/2022 till 04/2029
Status: open
Implementing organisation: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Political Partner: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) - India
Implementing Partner: Forest Survey of India

Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education

International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) - Nepal

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) - India

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) - India

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State of implementation/results

Landscapes for planning, implementing, and monitoring Foest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) measures, as well as capacity-building activities, have been selected across all project states. These cover a total of 213,001 hectares in 23 districts (Maharashtra: 112,886 ha, Gujarat: 40,302 ha, Delhi NCR: 29,567 ha, Uttarakhand: 30,246 ha).
All baseline studies and restoration action plans (Detailed Project Reports, DPR) are being developed by consortium partner IUCN and local NGOs. Multi-departmental stakeholder consultations, orientation meetings, and planning workshops have been conducted in the relevant districts across all project states.
Training Needs Assessments (TNA) for forest officials, line departments, and communities in selected landscapes have been completed in all four states. Range Forest Officers (RFOs) participated on an “Impact Pathways for Ecosystem Restoration” workshop in Gujarat (09.2025).
The legal and policy review identifying entry points for integrating FLR into policy planning was presented to the State Forest Departments (SFD) in January 2025. RECAP4NDC facilitated roundtables to deliberate on policy mainstreaming Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) into state- and national-level policy and legal instruments in Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Haryana. The project is now tasked with developing several state policy drafts.
An international study tour was organised for senior officers in collaboration with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Kenya, under the IKI Alliance for Restoration of Forest Ecosystems in Africa (AREECA) project (10.2025). The tour aimed to facilitate cross-learning from Kenya’s large-scale FLR practices, community-led conservation initiatives, and digital monitoring.
A study tour in Madhya Pradesh (09.2025) was organised for forest officers to gain first-hand insights into field-level implementation, best practices, and institutional mechanisms adopted in the state under Green India Mission and World Bank’s Ecosystem Service Improvement Project.
Two training programmes were organised by Forest Survey of India from for forest officers of selected landscapes (01.-02.2026). These were deigned to strengthen the technical capacities in areas related to forest inventory, geospatial analysis, monitoring systems, and data-driven decision-making.
The project participated in the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025 (10.2025) and contributed with sessions on private sector participation in FLR, community-based resilient solutions and the project’s landscape selection methodology. The project featured an exhibition booth attracting hundreds of visitors from academia, research, policy, and business communities.
RECAP4NDC’s LinkedIn feeds feature several series, including VanKaVardaan ("Blessings of Forest", showcasing native tree species across selected landscapes), UnJargon (aiming to explain technical concepts in clear, accessible language), and relevant stories from the states highlighting conservation champions, FLR measures and approaches, and innovative initiatives.

Latest Update:
06/2026