Forest Conservation Act: Changes Proposed

The Union Ministry of Environment has issued a consultation paper on amendments to the Forest Conservation Act 1980 to make significant changes to forest governance in India, including the possibility for private plantations to produce, collect or explore natural gas and oil deep within forest areas by drilling holes from outside the forest area.

About Forest Conservation Act

• It was passed by the Indian Parliament to control the ongoing deforestation in Indian forests.
• It entered into force on October 25, 1980 and contains five parts.
• The law restricts state governments and other authorities from making advance decisions without permission from the central government.
• The Forest Conservation Law gives full authority to the central government to achieve the objectives of the law.
• The Act provides for penalties for violating FCA provisions.
• The Forest Conservation Act will have an advisory committee that will assist the central government in matters of forest conservation.

Objective of this act

• Protect forests and their diverse fauna, flora and various other ecological components while maintaining the integrity and territory of the forest.
• Stop the loss of forest biodiversity.
• Prevent the conversion of forest land into grasslands, agricultural land, or for commercial purposes.

Changes proposed

• Forest identification is subjective and arbitrary. This causes ambiguity and has been observed to cause a lot of resistance and resentment, especially from organizations and individuals. Considering any private area as forest will limit individual rights to use their land for non-forestry activities. Even where transfer of the area is permitted, the owners must provide an area equivalent to non-forest land and other compensation charges for using their land for the intended non-forest purpose. Hence, it is deemed necessary to objectively define the scope of action for the identification of forests.
• One of India’s Nationally Defined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement is to create an additional (cumulative) expansion of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of carbon sinks through additional forests and forests by 2030. The growing market for wood and wood products that has disappeared must be revived. To achieve the NDC, extensive plantations were necessary on all possible lands available outside of state forests. To ensure this, the fear among arborists that vegetation or tree plantations growing on their private / non-forest lands are subject to the provisions of the law must be allayed.
• The Environment Ministry is considering adding a provision in the Forest Protection Law to keep certain virgin forests with rich ecological values intact for a period of time.
• The document asks whether the use of forest lands for strategic and security projects of national importance should be exempt from the need for prior approval from the central government. Thus, states can allow forest lands to be diverted for various security and strategic projects that are completed within a specified time frame.
• The document suggests facilitating new technologies such as Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) for the extraction of oil and natural gas deep within forest areas by drilling holes from outside  forest areas. The document suggests that this has no impact on the soil or aquifer that sustains the forest.
• In order to ease the discomfort of those whose lands are within state-specific private forests or within the scope of the forest the ministry has proposed granting them the right to build structures for good faith purposes, including measures of forest protection  and housing units.

Conclusion

According to the ministry, the change was proposed to recognize the significant changes in the environmental, social and environmental regime in the country over the past 40 years. State governments were asked to provide their comments within 15 days.