In India, Trees Outside Forests (TOFs) are defined as trees growing outside government recorded forest areas (RFAs) and include trees growing on private lands, farms, community lands, along roads, canals and railway lines and urban areas. With time, TOFs have been recognized as an important resource in provisioning domestic timber and in contributing to the country’s forest cover, growing stock, carbon sequestration and livelihood opportunities for the rural poor. Although being such an important resource, TOFs have no defined government authority or a national level policy for its management, unlike RFAs. Every state in the country has a different TOF regulation, especially in terms of felling, transit regulations and market facilities. The present study analyzed the implications of existing regulations and institutional mechanisms that encourage or discourage farmers to take up TOFs for timber production in two states of India; Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. The study was comprised of a review of existing policies, regulations and guidelines related to timber production from forests and TOFs across the country followed by a field survey of 286 respondents from 24 villages spread across four districts and two states. It was found that cumbersome TOF regulations for felling and transit of trees and lack of proper market linkages for farm-grown timber were major deterrents towards adoption of tree growing by farmers. We conclude that uniform and simplified policy for management of TOFs, along with developed market linkages, can boost tree growing on private lands, thus increasing timber production. Further, linking this with programmes like REDD + can create an additional sink for carbon which would also help the country in meeting its international commitments and provide additional financial incentives.

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促进森林外树木（TOF）以提高印度木材产量的机构要务

在印度，森林外树木（TOF）的定义是在政府记录的森林区域（RFA）以外生长的树木，包括在私人土地，农场，社区土地，沿道路，运河和铁路线以及城市地区生长的树木。随着时间的流逝，TOF被公认为是提供家用木材以及为该国的森林覆盖率，不断增长的存量，碳固存和农村贫困人口谋生机会做出贡献的重要资源。尽管是非常重要的资源，但TOF与RFA不同，它没有明确的政府机构或国家/地区级管理政策。该国每个州都有不同的TOF法规，尤其是在采伐，运输法规和市场设施方面。本研究分析了鼓励或劝阻农民在印度两个州从事木材生产的TOF的现行法规和体制机制的含义。中央邦和古吉拉特邦。这项研究包括对与全国森林和TOFs木材生产相关的现行政策，法规和指南的审查，然后对来自四个地区和两个州的24个村庄的286名受访者进行了实地调查。人们发现，关于树木砍伐和过境的繁琐的TOF法规以及对农场种植的木材缺乏适当的市场联系是阻碍农民采用树木种植的主要障碍。我们得出的结论是，统一，简化的TOF管理政策以及发达的市场联系可以促进私人土地上的树木生长，从而增加木材产量。此外，将其与REDD +之类的计划联系起来可以创造一个额外的碳汇，这也将有助于该国履行其国际承诺并提供更多的财政激励措施。