The India State of Forest Report (ISFR), 2023, published by the Forest Survey of India, has sounded the alarm bell on the continuous loss of forest cover in the Northeast region. Without improvement in infrastructure planning to minimise tree felling, the region will continue to lose more forest cover in the coming years. This is a cause for grave concern as it will add to climate change mitigation woes for the region. Loss of forest cover leads to loss of habitat for wildlife, and it explains the rising incidents of human-animal conflict in the region. Linear infrastructure projects like roads and railways require felling of large numbers of trees in patches of forest areas. When a linear infrastructure comes up along the cleared patches, it fragments the wildlife habitats, the animal corridors. Fragmentation of animal corridors results in negative interaction between humans and wildlife, and then never-ending conflict ensues. This raises questions about mitigation measures suggested in the environmental impact assessment of various infrastructure projects in the region, which also form the basis of the final green clearance for such projects. The ISFR 2023 highlights that the region has lost about 327 sq. km of forest cover over the past two-year period from 2021-2023. The region lost 1020 sq. km of forest cover during the previous two years from 2019 to 2021, which was 27.58% of total forest cover loss during the ten-year period from 2011 to 2021. The region, being a biodiversity hotspot of the country, continuous loss of forest cover leaves a cascading impact on biodiversity and its ecosystem services on which communities living on the forest fringe are dependent for their agriculture, livestock rearing, and other economic activities. When a highway is built to improve connectivity, ribbon development that follows often leads to gradual clearing of forest patches alongside the highway. Checking loss of forest cover is critical to reducing the release of sequestered carbon in the atmosphere. Carbon sequestration by trees prevents warming of the atmosphere, due to which afforestation, restoration of degraded forests, and reducing forest diversion can play a crucial role in carbon credit markets. Increasing the forest cover in the region is crucial to India achieving its target of creating an additional carbon sink of 3 billion tonnes by 2030 through an increase in forest and tree cover. The government sets the limit of carbon emissions for companies, which is measured in terms of certified carbon credits allotted to them by the government. Besides, the companies can invest in afforestation projects to generate carbon credits, which they can also sell to other companies that have exhausted the carbon credits allotted to them against carbon emissions from their industrial and other activities and are seeking to buy extra carbon credits for more emissions to increase production. As infrastructure development involves companies involved in industrial production of construction material and equipment, incentivising their investment in afforestation and forest conservation projects can go a long way to reversing the trend of forest cover loss in the region. This will, however, require the government to adequately inform the communities and people who will be the key stakeholders in such projects so that the entire process of generating carbon credits, estimation, transactions, and profit sharing with people remains transparent and prevents any form of exploitation or deprivation by the companies. The Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, 2023, notified by the Central Government, envisages the government notifying the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission limits in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent, which includes direct GHG emissions from fossil fuels burnt for production and indirect GHG emissions, such as the purchase of electricity from the grid, which involves GHG emissions. The Detailed Procedure for Compliance Mechanism under the Indian Carbon Market issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change proposed that the registered companies or entities shall report both direct energy, non-energy, and indirect energy-related GHG emissions from their boundary. The methodology for the calculation of green credit in respect of tree plantation mandates that the Forest Department of every state and union territory shall identify degraded land parcels, including open forest and scrub land, wasteland, and catchment areas, under their administrative control and management, which shall be made available for tree plantation to promote activities for increasing the green cover for the generation of Green Credit. The Green Credit shall be calculated at the rate of one Green Credit per tree grown on such land parcel under the Green Credit Rules, 2023. The Green Credit generated may be exchanged for meeting the compliance of the compensatory afforestation in case of diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes. Registration of over 1000 plantation blocks across the country has made about 28,000 hectares of land available for generating green credit through tree plantation. The initiative is yet to gain momentum in the region and needs a policy push by the Northeastern states.