Afforestation potential mapping of tree outside forest in India for achieving SDG goals and landscape stewardship

The study evaluated India’s bioclimatic, topographical, and ecological parameters for identifying the landscape potentiality for the restoration of afforestation strategies in Tree Outside Forest (TOF). Potentially suitable spatial factors such as decadal annual soil moisture, annual climate (precipitation, temperature, and aridity index), topography (slope), ecology (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), soil fertility (nutrient availability, nutrient retention capacity, rooting conditions, oxygen availability to roots, excess salts, and toxicity) and Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) types were identified and brought into Geographical Information System (GIS) for integration based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) statistical methods. The analysis revealed that approximately 133 million hectares of the TOF landscape have a greater than 60% potential for restoration of afforestation goals for landscape conservation, biodiversity, and ecosystem services and will serve more or less 15 out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) linked to the betterment of society, economy, and environment. There is a need for 50 billion tree targets in India that will act as a sink for approximately 0.85 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually and many of them can be grown in a potentially suitable TOF landscape. This study is important for policymakers because it will serve as an outstanding synergic future strategy with long-term goals for tree expansion in the TOF of India.

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