Green washing – Changes to conservation laws must be backed by scientific evidence

Source: The post is based on an article “Green washing – Changes to conservation laws must be backed by scientific evidence” published in The Hindu on 12^th July 2023.

Syllabus: GS 2 – Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation

Relevance: concerns with the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023.

News: The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 is currently under discussion by a Joint Committee of Parliament.

What is the present legislation governing the industrial exploitation of forest land?

The Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980 empowers the state to regulate and impose costs on industrial exploitation of forest land.

Further, SC ruling in the T.N. Godavarman Thirumalpad case (1996) expanded the scope of protection under the Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980 to even non-officially classified forests.

What are the key provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023?

Read Here: Objections overruled, Forest Bill goes to House unchanged

What are the issues with the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023?

The amendments do not contribute significantly to regenerating natural forests but rather incentivize afforestation for commercial purposes.

While the concept of grooming private forests may sound appealing in theory, expecting them to serve as a permanent carbon stock is unrealistic, considering the strong market incentives to use them as “carbon credits.”

Read More: The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 weakens the very purpose of the legislation, which is to protect and conserve India’s forests

What is the present status of forest cover in India?

As per the biennial reports of the Forest Survey of India, India’s forest cover has seen only marginal increases. The growth in forest cover within officially recorded forests remains stagnant or shows only minor increments.

However, it is tree cover in orchards, plantations and village homesteads that has been on the rise and supplementing India’s claim that 24% of its area is under forest and tree cover.

India, as part of its international climate commitments, has committed to increasing this number to 33% and adding a carbon sink of 2.5 billion to 3 billion tons of CO2 this way, by 2030.

What is the way ahead?

Changes to conservation laws may be necessary. However, due to new climate realities, these changes should be supported by robust scientific evidence.