National Draft Forest PolicyThe Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had kept the Draft National Forest Policy, 2018 in public domain for comments.
The basic thrust of the draft National Forest Policy of 2018 is for conservation, protection and management of forests along with addressing other issues associated with forest and forest management. To protect the interest of tribals, the Draft Policy of 2018 proposes to launch Community Forest Management Mission for management of community forest resources though a participatory forest management approach. Moreover, specific provisions have been made in the draft policy to ensure that the interests of local communities are protected and also provisions are made to consider them as partner in management of forests.
A need was felt need to revise the National Forest Policy, 1988 in order to integrate the vision of sustainable forest management by incorporating elements of ecosystem security , climate change mitigation and adaptation, forest hydrology, participatory forest management, urban forestry, robust monitoring and evaluation framework and establishment of mechanisms to oversee multi-stakeholder convergence in forest management, while building on our rich cultural heritage of co-existence and relying on our rich and diverse forest resources.