Trading Forests for Trees
Present circumstances:
- To alter the 1980 Forest (Conservation) Act, the government introduced the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 on March 29 in the Lok Sabha.
- The main objective of the suggested changes is to expand plantations, which will boost the woods’ carbon stock.
- Also, the bill aims to give developers access to property so they may comply with the law’s requirement that they plant compensatory trees in place of any forest areas that were cleared for development projects.
- By restricting the FC Act’s scope of application and liberating land that is currently imprisoned as unregistered forests, the Bill seeks to achieve both of these objectives.
Field observations and “forest” File records:
- After Independence, significant portions of forestland were classified as reserved and protected forests and placed under the management of state forest departments.
- Nonetheless, some wooded areas were left out, while places without any active forests were included in the “forest” lands.
- The process of identifying the anomalies was supposed to be accomplished using extensive ground surveys, however it was left undone.
- A 1996 Supreme Court decision that temporarily suspended the removal of trees across the nation said that the FC Act would be applied to all land parcels that were either recorded as “forest” or closely approached the dictionary meaning of forest.
- This broad directive made it difficult to include vast areas that were already being utilised for homesteads or agriculture as forests, but it also helped prevent unchecked destruction on land that was not designated as “forest.”
- The amendment Bill makes an attempt to limit the scope of the FC Act’s applicability to only areas that are designated as “forest” territory rather than complete the physical demarcation process.
- As a result, the Act will no longer provide protection for millions of hectares of land that resemble forests but are not designated as such.
What area of the world will be affected?
- To gain an idea of scale, consider the most recent State of Forests Report (SFR 2021), which counts India’s forest cover as 713,789 sq km. The size of Gujarat, or 197,159 sq km, or more than 28% of this, is not considered to be “forest.”
Projects and plantations:
- If the FC Act’s scope is restricted, fewer projects will be required to obtain forest clearance, which is considered by most developers inside and outside of the government as a “hurdle.” But, it will also help developers get the required forest clearance.
- A developer must plant trees as compensation for cutting forest on an area of comparable non-forest land or, in the absence of such land, on degraded forest land that is twice as large. This is a crucial requirement.
- Due to the constant high demand for land, this essentially lowers the need for forest land.
- However in June 2022, the government modified the Forest Conservation Rules to suggest a strategy that would allow developers to cultivate plants “over territory on which the [FC] Act is not applicable” and to trade such plots for later-mandated compensated afforestation. The suggested modifications are necessary for this plan to work effectively.
- After the FC Act is no longer applicable on the area, it can be used to produce plantations and replace an equivalent quantity of diverted forest land.
- According to a specialist who was engaged by the Environment Ministry, this will make the process of clearing forests easier and promote the development of private land banks of crops.
- Conservationists consider the loss of unrecorded forests to plantations as a double whammy because it will help divert documented forests for projects.
Misuse of the Regulation’s and the proposed bill amendment’s exemptions:
- Between July 2014 and November 2017, cutting of trees was prohibited for defence road building inside 100 km of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
- It now seeks to exempt any linear strategic projects that are “of national importance and compromising national security” and are located within 100 km of international boundaries, the Line of Actual Control, and the LAC (LoC). The territorial borders of India stretch for more than 15,000 kilometres.
- Between May 2011 and May 2013, significant public facilities not requiring more than 5 hectares each were exempted from the FC Act in 106 districts rife with left-wing extremism. (LWE).
- The phrase “construction of defence related project or a camp for paramilitary forces or public utility projects, as may be designated by the Central Government…in a Left Wing Extremism afflicted area, as may be notified by the Central Government” should be added.
- Also, the amendments seek to exclude “security-related infrastructure” that requires up to 10 hectares but doesn’t elaborate.
- The bill includes the building of zoos, wildlife safaris, eco-tourism facilities, and any other enterprises that “the Central Government may, by order, define.”
- The Center is given a lot of latitude by the proposed exemptions, which are expansive in and of themselves.
Conclusion:
- There is always an opportunity to offer suitable concessions for land that has historically been under the control of indigenous and forest groups whenever the FC Act is reviewed.
- Their ability to protest the use of forest land for development projects has gradually decreased, even after the Forest Rights Act of 2006 was passed.
- Now they might not have a say in the enormous plantations that will be built on the land that supports their villages.
- The bill calls for keeping up with “dynamic changes in the ecological, strategic, and economic aspirations of the country” as well as improving the livelihoods of those that depend on the forest. Yet, by limiting the Act’s scope, the revisions aim to compel plantations to become carbon neutral.
- Actually, steady natural forests experience slower carbon growth than rapidly expanding plantations. Conveniently, both plantations and forests contribute equally to increasing the country’s green cover because India does not distinguish between them.
- A forest, however, consists of much more than just a group of trees. Natural forests, as opposed to man-made plantations, provide direct livelihood and subsistence to billions of people as well as a variety of ecosystem services that are essential to the survival and well-being of the millions of species they support.
- Deforestation of forest land must therefore be reduced, and if it is allowed, it must be done while taking into account the project’s social, economic, and environmental impacts and taking into account the opinions of the surrounding residents.
