India stands today at the cross-roads where it is becoming abundantly clear that not paucity of funds, but deficit in governance is the most significant challenge before the society.

About 80 percent of the forested area of the developing world is held under public ownership. Many critics of state ownership argue that public stewardship of forests has been poor, pointing to high rates deforestation on land owned and administered by governments.

This new MoEF report documents India’s evolving framework for sustainable development since the 1992 Earth Summit and assesses the achievements and the challenges that the country faces.

The purpose of this assessment is to identify the constraints to and opportunities for women‘s participation in REDD+ initiatives, particularly as country REDD+ readiness plans are being developed, as well as to reveal the potential impacts of gender relations on REDD+ initiatives and vice versa.

Forest cover (Question asked in the Monsoon session of Parliament 2011 in LS)