Compensatory Afforestation for Increasing the Forest Cover
iasparliament
December 29, 2017
What is the issue?
Rules for the ‘Compensatory Afforestation Act’ haven’t been notified yet.
The government needs to stay invested and streamline its various programs for expanding the green cover in the country
What is the Compensatory Afforestation Act, 2016?
Diversion of forests for non-forest use seems inevitable to some degree due to developmental activities and biotic pressures.
Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016, seeks to remedy this loss through disbursal of national and State funds for carrying out afforestation projects.
While 40,000 crores have already been accumulated for compensatory projects, the rules for the implementation of the act haven’t been drafted yet.
This reflects the government’s low resolve for environmental protection.
Notably, sequestration of carbon through sustainably managed forests is a key component of the commitment made under the Paris Agreement.
What is the argument against Compensatory Afforestation?
Some argue that the Compensatory Afforestation as a concept is flawed.
Significantly, the evidence on compensatory afforestation in a big project such as the ‘Sardar Sarovar Dam’ is not encouraging.
While around 13,000 hectares were compensated there for afforestation, the outcomes were only patchy as biodiversity loss was immense.
Some areas saw healthy monoculture plantations albeit with low biodiversity value crop up, while others resulted in unhealthy plantations with few trees.
Also, it is worthy to note that the current method used to calculate the net present value of forests and its ecological services for carrying out afforestation drives, largely underestimates costs.
What is to be done?
Structuring Afforestation Drives - Suitable lands for afforestastion that are preferably contiguous with protected areas needs to be identified.
These needs to be turned over for joint management by forest department staff and select experts groups.
There is already a Green India Mission, which is distinct from the framework envisaged for compensatory afforestation.
Hence, independent audits for all connected programmes are needed, in order to sensibly deploy the financial resources now available.
Most importantly, the rules for the current law on compensatory afforestation need to be structured and implemented immediately.
Biodiversity Conservation - However, it is important to recognize that replacing a natural forest with a plantation is not ideal.
Both wildlife and the forest-dwellers stand to lose considerably because of the sheer loss of biodiversity.
But there is immense potential to augment the services of forests through a careful choice of plants and trees under the afforestation programme.
