Jaipur, Feb 7 (Representative) The Rajasthan government and US Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced the launch of a new initiative to increase tree coverage in the state, a statement said here on Tuesday. ‘Trees Outside Forests in India’ (TOFI) program announced on Monday, will bring together farmers, companies, and other private institutions to rapidly expand tree coverage outside of traditional forests in Rajasthan, it said. The new initiative will enhance carbon sequestration, support local communities, and strengthen the climate resilience of agriculture, thereby supporting global climate change mitigation and adaptation goals, the release said. Rajasthan has long placed a high priority on improving tree cover outside forest areas, as demonstrated by its promotion of agroforestry, or integration of trees into farming systems, in its State Action Plan on Climate Change, it said. TOFI will build on the state’s progress and harness agroforestry to bolster the resilience of farming systems, while also increasing the income of farmers in Rajasthan, it added.
It will leverage India’s private sector to promote and scale tree-based enterprises and the sale of carbon credits, helping to create jobs and boost incomes, the statement said. US Chargé d’Affaires Ambassador Elizabeth Jones said, “The United States is proud to support the Trees Outside Forests in India program, which builds upon decades of US-India cooperation in forestry and climate-smart agriculture. Expanding tree cover outside of forest areas will contribute to our mutual climate change goals, increasing carbon sequestration as well as farmer incomes.” “Trees are the key for our survival. We need to adopt ‘Ghar se Van tak’ approach i.e. planting trees at home, surroundings, and in farms, respectively for enhancing trees outside forests in the state and across the country,”, the release quoted DN Pandey, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Head of Forest Force of Rajasthan as saying. The TOFI program was launched in September, 2022 by Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Secretary Leena Nandan and then US Chargé d’Affaires Patricia Lacina, the statement said. The program will allocate up to 25 million US dollars in seven states including Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh and is implemented in partnership with the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF, also known as World Agroforestry), it said.