New Delhi: Conservationists, environmental experts, as well as former and current forest officials, have condemned the government’s proposal to change the application of a key law protecting India’s forests, arguing that it “opens the way for uncontrolled mining and commercial activities”. will open the floodgates”.
Several experts have submitted their objections to a joint parliamentary committee, which is reviewing the proposed changes.
Earlier this year Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav did City: Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill – containing proposed changes – amid vehement opposition in Parliament.
The bill seeks to dilute the stringency of the prevailing Forest (Conservation) Act – which bans non-forest activity within forests without approval from the central government – to “fast-track strategic and security-related projects of national importance”. could”. ThePrint had detailed the proposed changes in This Report.
But several publicly available submissions made to the joint committee suggest that projects of national and strategic importance have already been approved and exempted, and that changing existing legislation could have wide-ranging impacts on wildlife and biodiversity conservation.
In addition to exempting projects of “strategic importance” that fall within 100 km of international borders, the Bill exempts railway lines, zoos/safari and ecotourism activities as well as tracts of land, while restricting Decides which forest laws will apply.
In their 60-page submission, conservationist Prerna Singh Bindra and Kerala’s chief conservator of forests, Prakriti Srivastava, wrote, “The bill in its current form will be the death knell for India’s forests.” The Basic Forest (Conservation) Act, the proposed bill removes important safeguards from the vast majority of India’s biodiversity-rich forests.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee, comprising 19 Lok Sabha members and 10 Rajya Sabha members, is expected to submit its report to Parliament in the first week of the next session.
‘Weak’ the Supreme Court
The bill seeks to “remove ambiguities and bring clarity” in the current law, by defining which forests are protected and which are not.
In 1996, the Supreme Court declared in a landmark judgment that the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) would apply to any forest land that bears its “dictionary meaning”, as well as forests found in government records, regardless of ownership. . This includes unclassified forests that have not been officially notified as “reserved forests” or “protected forests” under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
In its amendment, the government proposes to limit this comprehensive protection only to forests that have been registered on or after October 25, 1980, when the FCA kicked in.
“This would have the effect of removing legal protection under the FC Act from millions of hectares of land that have forest characteristics but are not notified as such,” Bindra and Srivastava wrote in their submission, pointing to the ecosystems in the Aravalli. ” , in the Western and Eastern Ghats, and mangroves “will no longer be considered ‘forest’ and can potentially be sold, removed, cleared, felled, used, without Regulatory oversight can be exploited if the bill is passed.”
In its 44-page submission, an 18-member high-level working group of the Vidhi Center for Legal Policy said that “recognizing the importance of land recorded as ‘forest’ in government records prior to October 25, 1980, is a major step in protecting existing forests”. Important for conservation as many of them are recorded as ‘Unclassed Forests’.”
According to the 2021 State of India Forest Report, unclassified forests account for 15 percent of India’s forest cover. Many states have a large area of unclassed forests. The high-level working group, comprising researchers, former forest officials and conservationists, says, “There is a concern that most of such lands may be exempted from FCA as they are recorded as forests much before 1980.”
Independent environmental researcher Meenakshi Kapoor and lawyer Kritika A. In their joint submission, Dinesh warned that by removing such large tracts of land from protection under the FCA, the government was “facilitating the commercial use of forests”.
The statement of objectives of the bill states that it is being introduced “to keep up with the dynamic changes in the ecological, strategic and economic aspirations of the country”.
Earlier this year, the government revealed in Parliament that over 80,000 hectares of forest land had been diverted for projects in the last five years. Over 12,000 environmental clearances – including forest land – were to be granted in 2022 LonelyHighest ever.
‘Glorious’ Plantation
The Bill also introduces a ‘Preamble’ to the law, which outlines India’s commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2070, enhancing carbon stocks, improving tree cover, conserving India’s biodiversity and enhancing livelihoods of forest dwellers. Emphasizes necessity. Yadav also said that another objective of the bill is to “encourage tree plantation on non-forest land”.
Experts see the Preamble as unnecessary and going against the spirit of the original Act, whose primary objective is conservation and protection of forests.
Kapoor and Dinesh wrote, “The emphasis in the Preamble on the achievement of net zero emissions by 2070 through an increase in tree plantation goes against the objective of the original Act.”
According to the law’s high-level working group, the preamble is in “contradiction” with the rest of the proposed changes. The proposed amendments “undermine the need to protect and preserve old-growth forests and glorify artificial plantations as carbon sinks,” they wrote.
“The preamble also sets a target of increasing forest cover to one-third of the country’s land area. However, instead of preventing fragmentation and forest loss, the proposed amendments promote non-forest uses of a commercial nature only by exempting a large portion of natural old-growth,” the law group wrote.
Earlier, project developers had to ‘compensate’ for forest land by afforesting an equal amount on non-forest land. In 2022, the government notified new forest conservation rules, which would allow project developers to buy minimum five-year-old plantations of similar size to ‘compensate’ for lost forest land. They also allow diversion in one state for compensation in another state in some cases.
In particular, more than 8 million trees from virgin rainforests in Great Nicobar Island will be cut for a port and other infrastructure projects, while compensatory afforestation Will be raised in Madhya Pradesh and Haryana,
Due to the dry climate, the forest cover of Haryana is the lowest in the country.
Several studies suggest that reforestation plantations do not provide the same ecological services as native forests do, and that the cost of them may be a extra exercise, A 2022 investigation by news website Scroll.in also found that compensatory forest land was not maintained properly, leading to “ghost” plantations.
In their presentation, Bindra and Srivastava said that the issues of carbon neutrality and carbon sequestration and tree plantation should find a place in site specific plans “and not in the proposed act for forest conservation”. “Conserving old growth forests, upcoming natural forests as well as their biodiversity including wildlife is the most effective, cost-effective way to address carbon sequestration issues and achieve carbon neutrality.”
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Scope for the government to amend
The bill empowers the central government to decide whether the law applies to surveys and “scoping studies” in forest areas. It also allows the central government to make exceptions for non-forest activities “for any other similar purposes, which the central government may specify.”
In its submission, Vidhi said opening of forests for survey and investigation would “open the floodgates to conduct surveys for purely commercial activities like mining”.
Other experts agreed. Bindra and Srivastava write that by allowing this, the government “opens up vast areas of wildlife-rich forests – tiger reserves, elephant habitats, biodiversity hotspots – across the country for coal, iron ore, diamond, lithium and other mining. Will give , as well as for oil.
Kapoor and Dinesh note that by giving itself discretionary powers over the application of legislation, the government reduces public participation and “reduces the need to introduce bills in Parliament for future changes.”
other changes
Experts have urged the government to waive off FCA exemptions in respect of projects exempted for security and defense purposes, including eco-tourism, zoos and safaris within forests, as well as within 100 kilometers of the Line of Control or the Line of Actual Control. Also requested.
Kapoor and Dinesh point to several guidelines of the Forest Conservation Act, which already exclude road construction within 100 km of the LoC/LoC, as well as critical defense infrastructure and public works of up to 1 hectare. approved for utilities. 5 hectares.
Bindra and Srivastava say that the landslide in Joshimath should be a “wake up call” for the importance of environmental protection measures in ecologically sensitive areas. In late December last year, the Himalayan town of Joshimath experienced accelerated subsidence due to uncontrolled development on unstable landslide debris.
“These border areas are fragile, critical ecosystems that shelter a spectrum of India’s endangered, critically endangered and endemic species,” write Bindra and Srivastava, adding that uncontrolled construction on such seismically and geologically sensitive landscapes This not only threatens the rare wildlife and water security of the country but also makes these areas vulnerable to earthquakes and landslides.”
Some of the rare species living in these areas include great Indian bustards, elephants, tigers, red pandas, snow leopards, hoolock gibbons, wild ass, wolves, black-necked cranes, pangolins and bears.
The Bill also does not mention the rights of forest dwellers on forest land, which are enshrined in the Forest Rights Act (FRA) and the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA).
The law’s High Level Working Group writes, the proposed amendment “effectively removes the requirement of obtaining consent from the gram sabha for the diversion of (forest) land,” which confers on forest-dwelling communities their agency over land use. can snatch
“Forest dwellers, including tribal communities, are integral to the survival and sustainability of forest ecosystems and biodiversity,” they write, adding, “It is important to ensure that any development or conservation effort is based on the rights, participation and consent of forest dwellers.” Consider respecting their close relationship with forests and their sustainable practices.
(Editing by Zinnia Ray Chowdhury)