On one hand India has committed to reducing carbon emission, and on the other Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has proposed amendments to the Forest (Conservation) Act (FCA), 1980 which will encourage non-forest activities on forest land in near future. Surbhi Jaiswal, green activist and Team Lead, Green Vigil Foundation, said, “Government is in a hurry to push through certain amendments to the FCA that will make it easier to divert forest land to non-forest use.” “Amendments proposed to any Act related to environment and forest should aim to make the said Act more stringent and providing a umbrella cover to the nature. The basic school of thought behind any amendment should be protection of natural resources.

 

However, surprisingly, the proposed amendments to the FCA are diluting the Forest Act and paving way for destruction of forests in the country,” Jaiswal added. The green activist also said, “It is giving an upper hand to organisations like Railways, NHAI, PWD to shrink green cover in areas owned by them. If these amendments are accepted then henceforth, no ‘show off’ plantation activity to be undertaken in private area of these organisations as the saplings being planted today are at mercy of development agencies who can raze them anytime they want.” “India has assured, by 2030, at least 50% of power to come from non-fossil fuel source, and will create additional carbon sink of about 2.5-3 billion tonnes by adding forest and tree cover. However, proposed amendments to the FCA are contradictory to the commitments made in Paris Agreement,” she added.

 

The proposed amendments, if accepted, construction of roads, railway lines through the strip of notified forest areas will not come under the preview of the Forest Act. As per the consultation paper on proposed amendments, an exemption of up to 0.05 ha land for each such accesses may be allowed to alleviate the hardship of the residents and business owners. On dilution of the FCA from International border, Jaiswal said, “Development of infrastructure along the international borders is crucial for keeping our borders intact and to uphold the sovereignty of the country. Hence, use of forest land for non-forest purpose like national security is acceptable, though efforts may be taken for minimising the damage to the green cover.” “Though the Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) which is called the environment-friendly technology, but carrying out any non-forest activity in forest land will definitely have an irreparable damage to wildlife and the ecosystem,” Jaiswal said.