# Misreading the forest: Why planting trees cannot replace rich biological ecosystems > Planting trees can't restore ecosystems: India's afforestation fails to protect biodiversity. - Title: Misreading the forest: Why planting trees cannot replace rich… - Summary: Planting trees can't restore ecosystems: India's afforestation fails to protect biodiversity. India's compensatory afforestation programs replace lost… - Keywords: compensatory afforestation, afforestation, reforestation, ecosystems, biodiversity, monoculture, native species, ecoregions, western ghats, aravalli, great nicobar, indigenous peoples - Source: mint — https://livemint.com/mint-lounge/ideas/unscientific-afforestation-reforestation-india-11792132464806.html - Author: T. R. Shankar Raman - Published: 2026-10-16T11:30:51+00:00 - Read time: 1 min - Topics: compensatory afforestation, afforestation, reforestation, ecosystems, biodiversity, monoculture, native species, ecoregions, western ghats, aravalli, great nicobar, indigenous peoples ## The forest crisis Public environmental efforts often cause harm by oversimplifying ecological complexity. > The sheer success of growing public consciousness to save the environment can sometimes strike body blows to the very subjects they were meant to save ## Compensatory afforestation India's law requires developers to plant trees elsewhere when destroying forest land. > The Forest Conservation Act (1980) legislated that any diversion of existing forest land for non-forest uses required a "land for land" and "tree for tree" swap ## Afforestation vs reforestation Afforestation creates forests on land that never had trees; reforestation restores forests after damage. > Reforestation implies bringing forests back into lands that earlier had forests, but which were cleared or damaged ## Great Nicobar case Destroying 13,000 hectares of rainforest in Great Nicobar requires planting trees 3,000 km away in Haryana. > A proposed transshipment port, township, greenfield airport, power plant, and luxury tourism boom is slated to destroy 13,000 hectares of mature tropical rainforest ## Ecoregions matter Great Nicobar's rainforests differ from Haryana's arid thorn scrub ecosystems. > Great Nicobar falls within the Nicobar Islands Rainforests terrestrial ecoregion, a primarily wet tropical environment with dense evergreen forests ## Monetizing nature Forests are valued at ₹15.96 lakh per hectare for dense rainforests, less for grasslands. > The NPV for open ecosystems, such as grasslands or savannahs, remains as low as ₹6.7 lakh per hectare ## Squandered funds CAMPA funds plant monocultures of alien species that harm local ecosystems. > The tree species planted often include alien and invasive species, such as subabul or Acacia wattles, that are convenient to grow and plant, but harmful to local ecosystems ## Restoration science Ecological restoration uses native species and reference ecosystems to revive damaged areas. > Ecological restoration aims to spur revival by first pinpointing what the native ecosystem state was before it was damaged or degraded ## Central Ridge failure Bulldozers destroy soil and native vegetation while removing invasive mesquite trees. > Bulldozers are now at work trying to remove the mesquite in order to reintroduce native plants ## Native restoration NCF has restored 150 hectares of rainforest with 102,000 native saplings over 25 years. > More than 102,000 saplings of over 300 native species raised here have been planted to actively restore over 150 hectares of rainforest ## Citizen power Residents protect trees from felling projects in Bengaluru and Dehradun. > In July, Dehradun citizens rose to defend over 4,000 trees, including mature sal trees, slated for felling to widen the Bhaniyawala-Rishikesh stretch ## Rainforest recovery Rainforests in Anamalai show signs of recovery after 25 years of restoration. > The density of trees and their match with benchmark sites and other parameters like canopy cover, carbon storage, and bird diversity have increased from 14% to over 80% ## The solution Protect existing ecosystems and use native species for restoration instead of planting trees elsewhere. > The first rule of ecological restoration is thus: protect existing natural ecosystems ## Key takeaway India's compensatory afforestation programs replace lost forests with monocultures, harming wildlife and ecosystems.