CAG Finds Green India Mission Achieved Only 2% Of Forest Cover Target

The Green India Mission increased forest cover by only 0.03 million hectares between 2015-16 and 2024-25, falling 97.57 per cent short of its target of 1.4 million hectares, according to a new report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). The findings highlight a substantial gap between the mission's planned objectives and the forest-cover gains recorded during the 10-year period.

The Green India Mission was launched in 2014 as one of the initiatives under India's broader efforts to address climate change and strengthen the country's ecological resources. Its objectives include increasing forest and tree cover, improving the quality of forests and non-forest lands, restoring degraded ecosystems and enhancing ecosystem services. The programme was intended to contribute to India's environmental and climate-related goals through interventions across states and Union territories.

The CAG report, tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, found that the mission's performance was significantly below the targets approved by the Environment Ministry. Against the target of increasing forest cover by 1.4 million hectares during the period under review, only 0.03 million hectares of increase was recorded. This represents a shortfall of 97.57 per cent from the stated target, according to the audit findings.

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The audit also identified a major gap in efforts to improve the quality of existing forest cover. Against a target of 1.4 million hectares for improvement in forest-cover quality, such improvement was observed across only 0.11 million hectares during the same period. The CAG calculated the shortfall at 91.87 per cent, indicating that progress in this area also remained considerably below the level originally envisaged under the mission.

The findings were based on an examination of Green India Mission interventions across 16 states and Union territories. The audit reviewed programmes for which the Environment Ministry had approved physical and financial targets over the past decade. By examining implementation across these regions, the CAG assessed whether the activities undertaken under the mission were translating into the intended improvements in forest cover and ecosystem quality.

The Green India Mission was designed to go beyond simply increasing the area classified as forest. Improving the quality of forests and restoring degraded land are also important components because healthy ecosystems provide services such as biodiversity protection, soil conservation, carbon storage and support for local communities. The CAG findings suggest that progress against both the quantitative expansion and quality-improvement objectives was substantially below the targets set for the period.

The audit findings place renewed focus on the implementation of India's forest-restoration programmes and the mechanisms used to measure progress. The substantial difference between approved targets and reported outcomes raises questions about the pace and effectiveness of interventions carried out under the Green India Mission. The CAG report provides an assessment of the programme's performance over a decade, with the findings now available for consideration by Parliament and relevant government authorities.

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