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). The project has begun assessing key ecosystem services (ES) in selected landscapes by conducting field visits and ES prioritisation workshops in model sites.
All baseline studies and restoration action plans (Detailed Project Reports, DPR) have been completed by consortium partner IUCN and local NGOs. The restoration plans are under consultation and review by State Forest Departments and respective local authorities.
Awareness generation and community sensitisation on forest landscape restoration (FLR) have been implemented across six states—Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana—through interventions led by ICFRE in collaboration with State Forest Departments and local institutions. 146 awareness-generation events, 140 training programmes for local communities, and 15 school campaigns have been conducted, engaging a total of 13,711 participants and creating 129 wall paintings in villages within the model sites to reinforce local messaging on restoration and climate action.
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.
RECAP4NDC has initiated pre-feasibility studies across 10 project landscapes for the development of carbon credit projects in partnership with project developers goodcarbon GmbH and VNV. The pre-feasibility studies use GIS mapping to quantify eligible land use cover for carbon projects, which is then validated through field visits.
Forest Survey of India, a consortium partner, organised a workshop at Dehradun on developing an integrated Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (MER) Framework and Decision Support System (DSS) for FLR, with participation of experts from relevant sectors. The results form the basis for the establishment of monitoring parameters and ecosystem services assessment of the project.
A Training of Trainers on Drone-Based Forest Monitoring was conducted at Kathmandu University (27-30.07.2026). It generated field-tested workflows, checklists, and imagery to strengthen the practical content of the project’s Drones for Forest Monitoring e-course.
The project supported the State Forest Department of Uttarakhand during World Environment Day and Harela (a local festival), wherein Hon'ble Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, District Magistrate, Member of Legislative Assembly participated and interacted with the project team and local 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:
09/2026