National Afforestation Programme

Name of Project : Forest Development Agency under National Afforestation Programme

Object

• Regeneration and eco-development of degraded forests and adjoining areas on a watershed basis.
• Augmentation of the availability of fuelwood, fodder and grasses from the regenerated areas.
• Securing people's participation in planning and regeneration efforts to ensure sustainability and equitable distribution of forest products from the regenerated lands, and to promote the partnership concept in the management and administration of forest and common property resources.
• Promote agro forestry and development of Common property resources.
• Promotion of fuel saving devices to encourage efficient use of fuelwood and to reduce the drudgery of rural women involved in collection of wood, as also to improve the environment.
• Conservation and improvement of non timber forest produce such as bamboo, cane and medicinal plants.
• Encourage production of non-timber products such as wax, honey, fruits and nuts from the regenerated areas.
• Raising coastal shelterbelts to mitigate the adverse impacts of cyclonic winds.
• Develop water resources through plantation and water harvesting programme.
• Development and extension of improved technologies such as clonal propagation and use of root trainers for raising seedlings, mycorhizal inoculation etc.
• Rehabilitation of special problem lands like saline/alkaline soils, ravines, desert areas, coastal areas, mined areas Himalayas, Aravallis and Western Ghats.
• Employment generation for the disadvantaged sections of society, particularly women, scheduled castes/scheduled tribes and landless rural labourers, inhabiting the forests and adjoining areas.

• Protection Conservation of natural resources through active involvement of the people.
• Checking land degradation, deforestation and loss of biodiversity.
• Ecological restoration and environmental conservation and eco-development.
• Evolving village level people’s organization which can manage the natural resources in and around villages in a sustainable manner.
• Fulfillment of the broader objectives of productivity, equity and sustainability for the general good of the people.
• Improve quality of life and self sustenance aspect of people living in and around forest areas.
• Capability endowment and skill enhancement for improving employability of the rural people.

• The scheme titled National Afforestation Programme (NAP) has been formulated by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, with a view to reducing multiplicity of schemes with similar objectives, ensuring uniformity in funding pattern and implementation mechanism, avoiding delays in availability of funds to the field level. The scheme is operated by the National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board, Ministry of Environment & Forests as a 100% Central Sector/Centrally Sponsored Scheme.