United Nations Forum on Forests

• India participated in the 19th Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) was held in the New York from May 6th to 10th May 2024.
• During the session, India highlighted the Country’s significant advancements in forest conservation and sustainable forest management which led to consistent increase in forest cover over the past fifteen years.
• India also introduced the ‘Green Credit Program’, designed to incentivize entities to take up tree plantation and restoration of degraded forest lands, which aims to further strengthen climate action initiatives.
• Globally, India ranks third in the net gain in the average annual forest area between 2010 and 2020.
• The recent celebrations marking 50 years of Project Tiger and 30 years of Project Elephant underscore India’s commitment to species conservation and habitat protection.
• In October 2023, India hosted the Country Led Initiative under UNFF at Dehradun which was attended by representatives from 40 countries and 20 international organizations and held discussions on forest fire management and forest certification.

ABOUT UNFF

• It is a high-level intergovernmental policy forum which includes all United Nations member states and permanent observers.
• It promotes “management, conservation and sustainable development of forests.
• It was established in year 2000 by the UN Economic and Social Council with its Headquarter in New York.