INDIA's Verdant, covers are spread over 75 million ha, about 19 per cent of the total land area, according to the latest annual economic survey conducted by th@ ministry of finance. But it is a long way off from the ministry of environment and forest's goal of agoresting 33 per cent of the plains and 66 per cent of the hilly regions. On the brighter side, Indian afforestation programme has actually made a difference by tackling carbon emissions -due to deforestation. But the total effect of afforestation has been offset by high fuelwood uptake. According to the survey, the National Afforestation and Ecodevelopment Board achieved afforestation on 9.84 lakh ha of public land during 1994-95. This year's target stands at 11.24 lakh ha.

The forest cover data, however, does not show the true picture. There are several other factors, such as sapling survival fates, which have to be taken into, account before arriving at the final figure. Grazing by livestock is another factor which affects natural regeneration of plants. The major countering force to afforestation is fuel- wood, which serves most ofrural energy needs but leads to large-scale felling of trees.