Establishment and empowerment of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in several states has resulted grassroot environmental movement. Communities have started regaining there resource rights and participation in the Eco- development programmes such as Joint forest Management, Waste Land Development, Watershed Management etc. As a cumulative response of this degraded ecosystems have started showing signs of regeneration in several parts of the country. Identifying crucial role of Panchayats in Micro- planning, implementation, management and monitoring of environmental programmes, people - centered policies are being formulated and capacity building training is imparted to PRIs to strengthen their involvement. The role of PRIs is considerable in the field of afforestation and they will be benefited the most by these schemes. The afforestaion and other ecological development activities will help the Panchayats to exploit there natural resources in a better way. The Panchayats can play a key role in implementing these activities as they are the most appropriate institutions who can instill a feeling of participation among the local people. They can form the groups of local people who can help in the development, implementation and functioning of the programme by doing some activities like: selecting the species of trees which should be planted in the area, then the land which should be used for afforestation and eco- development activities, planting trees, then saving the existing and newly planted trees by night patrolling , soil conservation, protecting the species present in the area etc.