When trees become forests: Why definitions matter for conservation in India

Forests are vital to the planet, offering a range of ecological, economic, and social benefits. However, in the Anthropocene era, forests are degraded by human activities and climate change, making the conservation and management of existing forest resources necessary. A precise and consistent definition of what constitutes a forest is fundamental for effective global forest conservation and management. Forest definitions vary significantly across institutions, countries, and scientific disciplines. Inconsistent forest definitions lead to unreliable data, distorted funding allocations, and misinformed policy decisions. India's official reports claim substantial gains in forest cover, yet multiple independent assessments and even government data reveal significant losses of natural forests, raising serious concerns about the credibility and transparency of national forest statistics. These discrepancies largely arise from India's forest definition, which counts plantations and tree cover outside forested areas as forests while failing to distinguish them from natural forests, thereby masking biodiversity loss and ecological degradation. The Government and policymakers are producing forest assessments that may be technically correct, but are largely misleading. Additionally, the misclassification of Open Natural Ecosystems (ONEs), such as grasslands, as degraded forests has driven inappropriate afforestation initiatives with adverse ecological and economic consequences. There is an urgent need to update forest definitions so that forests and deforestation are measured consistently and precisely.