India Ranks 9th Globally in Forest Area and Third in Net annual Forest Gain, Says GFRA 2025 Report

The GFRA 2025 findings in focus

The GFRA 2025 report, released on 24 October 2025 by the FAO, provides a comprehensive overview of global forest resources, change dynamics and carbon-sink contributions. India has notably improved its rank from 10th to 9th globally in total forest area.  significantly, India retains its position as the world’s **third-largest net annual forest-area gainer**, a notable achievement given the country’s developmental pressures.

The report also highlights that India’s forests contributed an estimated annual CO₂ removal of approximately **150 million tonnes** between 2021-25—earning recognition for playing a major role in the global climate-mitigation landscape.

The significance of the ranking shift

While global rankings matter for headline attention, the substance behind India’s advance is more meaningful. Climbing to 9th in total forest area reflects decades of policy effort, afforestation programmes, forest-management reforms and protected-area expansion. Holding 3rd in net gain suggests India is creating more forest area annually than most large countries, despite competing land-use demands.

In the context of climate change, forest cover is not just an ecological metric—it is a strategic asset. The carbon stored in forests, the biodiversity preserved, the hydrological stability maintained and the livelihoods supported all tie into India’s broader climate, water and social goals.

How India improved forest gain: Key drivers

A combination of policy, institutional coordination and field-level action underpins the improvement:

• Mass afforestation campaigns: Programmes such as the annual “Compensatory Afforestation” & social-forestry initiatives have systematically increased tree cover across states.
• Community forestry and joint forest-management models:</strong Participation of tribal and forest-dependent communities in managing forest blocks has improved regeneration and reduced illegal encroachment.
• Forest-policy incentives and land-use revisions:</strong Several states revised their land-use codes, demarcated forest belts, provided incentives for private afforestation and expanded protected-area networks.
• Satellite-monitoring and digital tracking:</strong Government agencies now monitor forest cover in near-real-time, enabling faster response to deforestation or degradation signals.

Climate-mitigation relevance

India’s commitment to the **150 Mt CO₂ per year** forest-sink contribution is especially relevant at a time when many economies struggle to decouple emissions growth from land-use change. Forests act as natural carbon-storage units, help regulate water cycles, stabilise soils and provide key ecosystem services.

The GFRA data strengthen the case that India’s climate strategy must explicitly integrate forests—not just energy transitions or industrial decarbonisation. The data also reinforce India’s position in international climate forums as a country that is not only reducing emissions but also building natural-capital stocks.

Biodiversity and ecological co-benefits

Higher forest cover and regeneration go beyond carbon. A well-managed forest system supports biodiversity conservation. India is home to four global biodiversity hotspots: the Himalayas, the Western Ghats, the Indo-Burma region and the Sundaland extension. Strong forest-area performance strengthens global biodiversity outcomes.

Moreover, forest-ecosystem services include water-cycle regulation, soil-erosion control, disturbance-buffering, climate-adaptation capacity and cultural significance. In many tribal and rural communities, forests underpin livelihoods, ecosystem-resilience and food-security.

Challenges that persist

Despite the positive headline, observers caution that several structural challenges remain:

• Quality vs quantity: Some afforestation gains occur on degraded lands, plantation blocks or monocultures—these may not yield full ecosystem benefits compared to old-growth, mixed-species forests.
• Forest-degradation risks: Deforestation from mining, infrastructure, illegal logging or land conversion continues to erode forest quality, even if gross area numbers improve.
• Encroachment and fragmentation: Forest patches are increasingly isolated, losing connectivity, which undermines biodiversity and ecological resilience.
• Climate-stress vulnerability: Rising temperatures, disturbances from pests, invasive species and forest fires threaten regeneration efforts.

State-level variation: Where the gains lie

States such as Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha have recorded higher-than-average tree-cover gains. These gains reflect active state-government focus, budget allocation and community-engagement programmes. Some of the gains are part of larger projects—such as corridor restoration, mangrove afforestation, tribal-livelihood linkages and private-afforestation incentives.

However, states with rapid land-use change—such as Assam, Jharkhand and parts of North-East India—continue to grapple with deforestation, infrastructure pressures and a mismatch between documented “net gain” and ecological resilience.

Forest cover in urbanising zones: A special focus

As India’s urban population grows, maintaining forest cover near metropolitan regions becomes more critical. Urban-edge forests act as buffer zones for pollution, help stabilise micro-climates and provide recreational green-space for citizens.

While total forest numbers include remote, rural tracts, urban-edge forest management remains mixed. Cities such as Gurugram, Bengaluru, Pune and Kolkata–NCR need strengthened focus on urban-forest ecology, tree-canopy cover, green-corridors and integration with urban-planning frameworks.

Implications for forestry investment and green jobs

The stronger forest-area performance opens new opportunities for investment in forest-ecosystem services, carbon-credit frameworks, industrial wood plantations linked with sustainability standards and community-forest enterprises. The Indian government has already flagged forests as part of its national land-use-finance strategy.

Green-jobs creation—from nurseries, seed-banks, forest-fire management, monitoring-technicians, drone-surveillance units and restoration projects—is expected to grow. One estimate suggests that every 1 million hectares of new well-managed forest can generate 20,000-30,000 direct and indirect jobs over a decade.

Global narrative: India’s role in carbon and biodiversity diplomacy

India’s improved forest numbers give it stronger credentials in multilateral forums—such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Global Stocktake processes. The 150 Mt CO₂ sink figure enables India to argue for differentiated responsibilities, access to results-based finance and partnerships in forest-climate mechanisms.

In practical terms, India may become a partner in carbon-finance frameworks for natural sinks, participate in global “forest-credit” markets and draw investment into landscape-restoration assets. This shifts forests from policy after-thoughts to central pillars in climate-strategy and sustainable-growth planning.

What next: Key policy and institutional actions

To convert current momentum into long-term resilience, India must focus on:

• Transitioning from afforestation to restoration of degraded ecosystems, including old-growth, mixed-species and contiguous forest patches.
• Strengthening protected-area networks and wildlife corridors to ensure biodiversity connectivity.
• Embedding forest-management into climate-adaptation policy, urban-planning, disaster-risk-management and rural-development schemes.
• Leveraging carbon-finance mechanisms and designing domestic frameworks for forest-carbon credits, benefit-sharing and participatory governance.
• Improving monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems—such as high-resolution satellite imagery, field verification and community-monitoring integration.
• Ensuring that forest-area gains translate into environmental quality—soil health, biodiversity indices, water-cycle impact, local livelihoods.

Conclusion: A milestone with work ahead

India’s strong showing in GFRA 2025 offers a significant positive narrative. It confirms that despite high-growth pressures, India’s forest-policy machinery has delivered measurable gains. That said, the journey from “more trees” to “healthier forests” is ongoing.