Smoke in the woods

Smoke in the woods

Context
The new draft Forest Policy 2018

Different approaches

• Pre & Post independence: Forest policy in colonial India focussed on maximising products and revenues for the state through the imperial forest department as sole owner, protector and manager of the forest estate. In post independent India forests were seen as sources of raw material for industry and local communities were simply treated as labour
• Forest policy 1988: It recognised the multiple roles of forests and prioritised environmental stability over revenue maximisation. It also acknowledged that the needs of forest-dependent communities must be the first on forest produce. Equally important, the policy emphasised people’s involvement in protecting and regenerating forests, thus formally recognising the limitations of state-managed forestry
• Joint Forest Management: Joint forest management (JFM) was initiated in the 1990s to implement the concept of people’s involvement. But it failed as foresters created thousands of village forest committees but severely limited their autonomy and jurisdictions. Donor money was spent on plantations but activities were stopped once funds ran out. Instead a meaningful devolution of powers was required
• Forest Rights Act 2006: It created a historic opportunity for such devolution. Its community forest resource provisions gave communities rights to both access and manage forests. The FRA democratised the forest diversion process by requiring community concurrence for forest diversion once community forest rights are recognised. The Adivasis of Niyamgiri in Odisha exercised this provision to prevent bauxite mining in their sacred hill tracts

What important provisions entail the new draft forest policy 2018?

It talks of production forestry & plantations s new thrust area

Production forestry: The practice of forestry with object of producing maximum quantity of timber, fuel wood and other forest produce is called Production Forestry

• Forest Development Corporations will now enter into public-private partnerships (PPPs) to bring corporate investment into forest lands
• In the past production forestry has led to destruction of diversity, dried up streams and undermined local livelihoods. PPPs will entail more such destruction, with even the profits ending up in corporate hands.

What should be done?

There is a need to replace JFM committees with statutorily empowered Gram Sabhas, and revamp the colonial-era Indian Forest Act by incorporating FRA provisions