20 Feb 2018	NDC and Forest Tenure	11.15 – 13.00 hours
Organisers		NRMC & Network for Certification and Conservation of Forests (NCCF)
Moderator	Sh Arun K Bansal, IFS (Retd), Ex-ADG, MoEFCC, GoI
MoEFCC approach towards NDC and Forest Tenure
SaibalDasgupta, IFS, ADG(FC), MoEFCC, Government of India Dr.Devendra Pandey, Forest Survey,Monitoring and assessment of the forest resources, GHG inventory
Forest Tenure Security and REDD+ in the context of JICA funded Forestry Projects through JFM approach
Vineet Sarin, Principal Development Specialist, JICA
Natural Climate Solutions for Meeting India's NDC Goals
Dr Sushil Saigal,  Applied Lands Scientist, The Nature Conservancy, New Delhi
Community Forest Tenure in the context CFM and CFR with implications on NDC and REDD+
Tushar Dash, Forest Rights Experts
To hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above preindustrial levels as perParis Climate Agreement, forests, among all land uses, seen as a cost effective options through conservation, restoration, and improved management practices. Considering the unique situation of our current stage of development and requirements of growing population, while deciding its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), India recognized the role of forest sector a part of Natural Climate Solutions. One of the NDC targets is to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030. India’s legal framework around Forest Conservation Act, 1980, participatory forest management (JFM), PESA, 1996 as well as Forest Rights Act, 2006 along with its policy to have one-third of the total land area of the country under forest or tree cover, provide opportunities while also opening up issues and questions, as India moves towards meeting NDC. With forest resources being accessed, used, managed and owned by multitude of organizations including the State Forest Departments, Communities, JFM Committees, Gram Sabhas, it is very important to appreciate these tenurial diversities and juxtapose appropriately with the expectations of NDC to arrive at right governance and management decisions to ensure sustainability and avoid conflict and leakages. A secure forest tenure with clearly defined spatial boundary, institutional arrangements and norms of rights, privileges and access is critical for ensuring ecological sustainability, social equity, cultural identity and economic profitability. As being increasingly witnessed and experienced, lack of it, leads to conflicts, deforestation, loss ecosystem services and poverty. Long term and clear tenure security around forest resources is critical for long-term investments, sustained conservation/restoration efforts as well as for achieving NDC, realization of impacts of JFM and CFR, and success of REDD+. With a focus on forest tenure, this session proposes to deliberate on topics viz. MoEFCC approaches towards achievement of NDC, Forest Carbon: Forest Cover inside RFA and outside, Forest Land Management System (FLMS), CommunityForestry and CFR under FRA, JFM plus approach under JICA funded projects, REDD+ experiences in Forest Plus and other Pilots, MRV systems among others.