Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has recently released the “Draft National Forest Policy, 2018” for public comments.
This is a positive as a new forest policy that is in tune with the changed realities was long overdue.
How has India’s forest policy evolved?
Currently, the “National Forest Policy of 1988” is the primary document that drives India’s forest outlook.
This dates back to the times when climate change was a fuzzy concept, and even before economic liberalisation was undertaken.
While Forest Rights Act was passed in 2006, a comprehensive new forest policy that covers the new evolving concerns was needed.
Hence, the present draft on climate change concerns has factored in climate change concerns and management plans forest and wildlife.
It also talks of “safeguarding the livelihood of forest dependent people” and envisions raising the country’s forest cover from 25% to 30% of its land area.
What are the concerns with the draft forest policy?
It persists with the methodological weakness of the “Indian Forest Survey Reports” of the past 30 years that conflate plantations with forest cover.
It talks about improving the productivity of forest plantations by the intensive scientific management of commercially important species.
While it does mention native plants like bamboo, it also stresses the need for plantations of exotics like eucalyptus and casuarina.
These provisions seems to disregard the compelling evidence that plantations are no substitute for natural ecosystems that with good biodiversity.
Ecologists vouch that nurturing natural ecosystems comprising of indigenous species are key for ecological sustainability and for climate change mitigation.
Also, a 2015 study in Nature had cautioned against “promoting intensive forestry for maximum timber yield under the flag of climate change”.
How effective are forests in addressing climate change?
While the exotic vs. indigenous species debate is raging, some researchers claim that mere regeneration of forests isn’t enough to check global warming.
The efficiency of the “carbon cycle in forests” (which varies from forest to forest), is said to be a key factor for climate change mitigation.
India has largely lacked nuanced studies to map forests and their carbon cycle potential and the draft policy doesn’t offer a roadmap to address these.
Such concerns need to be addressed while finalising the new forest policy.
