United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF20)

India participated in the 20th session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF20), held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from May 5 to 9, 2025.

Key Highlights

• India highlighted its significant progress in forest conservation and sustainable forest management, reaffirming its commitment to achieving the Voluntary National Contributions (VNCs) under the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017–2030.

• India reported a consistent increase in forest and tree cover, now encompassing 25.17% of its geographical area as per the latest India State of Forest Report, a 7.86% increase in mangrove cover over the past decade, afforestation of over 1.55 lakh hectares under the Green India Mission, and plantation of 1.4 billion seedlings under the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam (Plant4Mother) campaign.

• The UN Forum on Forests is a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) with universal membership.

• Since its establishment in 2000, the Forum has set many milestones including the first UN Forest Instrument in 2007, the Global Forest Financing Facilitation Network (GFFFN) in 2015, and adoption of the first UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2030 and its six Global Forest Goals in 2017.