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What's the article about?
- It talks abouts the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023.
Relevance:
- GS3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment;
- Essay;
- Prelims
Context:
- A Joint Committee of Parliament is deliberating the proposed Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023.
What is the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023?
- The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 is a proposed amendment to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 in India.
- The objective of the bill is to amend the existing law to protect India's forest land from unauthorised use for non-forestry purposes.
- Here are some key points about the bill:
- Expansion of Applicability: The bill expands the types of land to which the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 is applicable. This includes land that has been notified as a forest under Indian law.
- Exemptions: The bill adds and exempts certain types of land from the purview of the Act. It specifies activities that will be excluded from non-forest purposes, such as works related to the conservation, management, and development of forest and wildlife. The bill also adds more activities to this list, including zoos and safaris owned by the government.
- Compensatory Afforestation: The bill aims to make land available for compensatory afforestation. This is done to build forest carbon stock by raising plantations.
- Controversies and Concerns: There have been concerns raised about the bill undermining the rights of forest dwellers. Some argue that the bill could lead to the displacement of indigenous communities and the loss of their traditional rights over forest resources. Others have raised concerns about the potential environmental impact of the proposed changes.
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India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021:
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Analysis:
- This bill tries to solve complex challenges involved in balancing industrial development and the conservation of forests.
- While industrialisation inevitably means usurping greater tracts of forest land and ecosystems, the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 has been the mantelpiece legislation that has empowered the state to regulate this and impose costs on such industrial exploitation.
- Originally meant for notified forests, a landmark Supreme Court judgement, in the T.N. Godavarman Thirumalpad case (1996), among other things, broadened the scope of such protection to even those not officially classified so.
- Thus, as per the government’s argument, the existing Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 does not incentivise private agro-forestry and tree plantation activities.
- The new amendments to the Forest Act gave such incentives by clearly defining the limits of the 1996 judgment.
- Only land recorded as ‘forest’ in any government record on or after 1980 would invoke provisions of the Act. Forest land authorised by States for non-forestry uses between 1980-1996 would not invoke provisions of the Act.
- The amendments effectively mean States can no longer classify unclassified forest land, or patches of trees with forest-like characteristics as ‘forest land’.
- The amendments also allow forest land, up to 100 km near India’s borders, to be appropriated, without central approval, for “strategic and security” purposes.
- The primary criticism is that these amendments do not really contribute to regenerating natural forest, but rather incentivise afforestation for commercial ends.
Way Forward:
- Grooming private forests might look good in theory but expecting them to be a permanent carbon stock is wishful thinking given that strong market incentives exist to use them as ‘carbon credits’.
- While new climate realities might necessitate changes to the way conservation laws are interpreted, these must be backed by rigorous scientific evidence.
