Need to reorient or shift incentives to protect, promote trees outside forests: WRI India study

New Delhi
Growing trees outside forests (ToF) presents a significant environment and economic opportunity in India, but there is a need for shifting of incentives to protect existing trees outside forests besides improving research around native tree species, according to a latest study by WRI India.
The study, which analysed 16 national and 30 state-level policies and schemes for expansion of ToF in six states, suggested developing landscape-level restoration strategies and plans, improving the enabling environment to motivate farmers and other practitioners to protect and expand ToF systems.
The study analysed incentives implementation in Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, and Telangana to identify enabling conditions that can spur ToF expansion as well as barriers that impede implementation.
After unveiling the study, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajive Kumar said in a statement that around 29.38 million hectares of land in India has potential for scaling ToF systems, as estimated by the Forest Survey of India in 2019.
While incentives on their own cannot achieve ToF goals, they are instruments that can play a pivotal role as a powerful policy lever, he said.
According to the study Farmers highlighted the lack of incentives for protecting existing ToF systems and promoting traditional ToF practices with native tree species.
Such native systems are prioritized by women and other marginalized people who are dependent on these multipurpose trees for food, fuelwood, fodder, and non-timber forest produce (NTFP), it said. Lack of quality planting material, continuing ambiguities regarding permits for harvest and transit of farm-grown timber across state lines, and poorly developed value chains were highlighted by stakeholders as disincentives preventing farmers from taking up ToF systems.
Moreover, lack of attention to tree tenure dissuaded tenant farmers and women from practicing ToF interventions, the study said.
”Based on our study, we recommend reorienting incentives to protect existing ToF, promoting traditional ToF models, and improving research and extensions services around native tree species,” it said.
The reoriented incentives can include targeted provisions for women and marginalized groups (e.g., Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe) that are often the primary practitioners and beneficiaries of traditional ToF systems.
Implementing certification standards for farm-grown timber can address transit-related challenges. Promoting participation of NGOs and research organizations through grants or inclusive governance models can provide farmers with the necessary technical assistance for successfully implementing ToF systems.
Strengthening the role of the private sector, establishing value chains, and fostering ToF entrepreneurs can also inspire farmers to take up tree-based interventions, it said.
According to the study, India’s ToF policies/schemes offer at least seven types of monetary and three types of non-monetary incentives to spur ToF.
Monetary incentives include input subsidies, performance-based payments, grants, credit, benefit sharing, minimum support price, and insurance, while the non-monetary incentives are supply chain infrastructure, regulatory incentives, and technical assistance.
Agroforestry, which includes trees on bunds or boundaries, farm forestry, fruit orchards, and agri-horti forestry, emerged as the most common ToF system promoted by the policies/schemes.