NEW DELHI: Despite big talks, ‘sustainable development’ is rarely on the minds of decision-makers. While prime forest lands are often allocated for development projects, the lands offered for ‘compensatory afforestation’ are invariably inferior and located in distant, isolated areas, an Environment Ministry panel recently observed.
That may soon change, however. The Forest Advisory Panel of the ministry has directed the states to ensure that the land proposed for ‘compensatory afforestation’ (CA) in lieu of the proposed diversion of forest land for infrastructure and other projects is of good quality.
The compensatory land should be able to generate and compensate the Ecosystem Goods and Services (EG&S) lost from non-forestry use, it has said.
Compensatory afforestation is one of the key pre-requisites for the Central government’s approval to diversion of forest lands for non-forest purposes.
The panel in its meeting observed that generally, the selection of CA land is done without giving due consideration to instruction/guidelines issued by the ministry from time to time.
The guidelines stipulate, and the panel reiterated, that such land should be selected in the close vicinity of the forest area proposed for diversion and only in cases where land is not available in the close vicinity that alternative land in the nearby district should be selected.
The Integrated Regional Office of the ministry will certify the suitability of land offered for CA and will ensure such lands (forests) can be managed with ease by the forest department in the respective states with ease and protected from encroachment in future, the panel further said.
Areas that can compensate the EG&S foregone from non-forestry use of forest land to the maximum extent possibleshould be offered for CA, it said.