Retention forestry practices in India for biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, and sustainable forest management across diverse forest zones

Retention forestry is an ecologically informed forest management approach in which selected trees, deadwood, habitat patches, keystone species, old-growth individuals, riparian corridors, and microhabitats are deliberately retained during forest management interventions to maintain biodiversity, ecological continuity, and ecosystem services. Although widely developed in boreal and temperate forests of Europe, North America, and Australia, its relevance is highly significant in India, where forestry traditionally emphasizes ecological security, biodiversity conservation, and community dependence. India’s diverse ecosystems, including Himalayan alpine forests, tropical evergreen forests, mangroves, dry deciduous forests, scrublands, and island ecosystems, support high endemism, climate-sensitive habitats, and culturally important species. This review synthesizes the concept of retention forestry within Indian forestry systems and evaluates its applicability across major agroclimatic zones and forest types. It examines policy frameworks such as the National Forest Policy (1988), National Working Plan Code (2014 and 2023), Joint Forest Management, Forest Rights Act (2006), CAMPA mechanisms, and the Biological Diversity Act (2002). Region-specific examples from the Himalayas, Western and Eastern Ghats, Northeastern forests, arid ecosystems, Sundarbans mangroves, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands are also discussed. The review concludes that India already possesses strong ecological and institutional foundations for formal retention forestry, but effective implementation requires region-specific guidelines, biodiversity-sensitive management plans, monitoring frameworks, and integration with climate adaptation strategies.