The Government of India has decided to review and revise the National Forest Policy 1988, which has become old and obsolete in the present context of environmental and climatic management.
Consultation workshops will be held across the country by technical experts from different trades of natural science appointed by the Government of India. The revised forest policy will be of international standard and cater to the global needs of climatic management.
In India all the forest or the forestry management rules like Forest Rights Act 2006, PESA 1996, Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and Wildlife Protection Act 1972 etc are violated. In such a scenario, the Government has to ensure strict implementation of the current laws and acts; else it won’t be able o maintain the international standards of management of natural ecological systems. Here, the writer would like to cite a clear example of artificial mega Indira lake of Polavarm of Andhra Pradesh which is underway in spite of protests by thousands of natural inhabitants of Banda Saura and other primitive races.
Thousands of hectares of hill forests of Eastern Ghat range, which monitors the regional climate of eastern region, will be submerged.
The Government of India looks to be ignoring all concerns for environment and people in giving a go-ahead to the dam project in Andhra Pradesh.
The project is also against international declarations like the Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment 1972, The Rio-Declaration on Environment and Development 1992, Convention on Climate Change 1992 and Convention on Biological Diversity 1992.
Besides, it violates the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974, The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974, The Environment (Protection) Act 1986, The National Environment Tribunal Act 1995, National Environment Appellate Authority Act 1997, and The National Environment Appellate Authority (Appeal) Rules 1997. All these Declarations and Acts are principally promulgated for management of environment and climate and constitute the soul of the National Forest Policy. If all these declarations and Acts can be faithfully observed and implemented in the field, there is no need of making a separate National Forest Policy for the State and the country.
A popular Government means the people’s Government and policies taken on consensus. Hence, the workshops made in different parts of the country would bear in mind how home realities are given importance in the newly framed National Forest Policy. A policy means a plan of Action. If there is no action, the planning has no meaning. Every policy of democratic pattern should be thoroughly pursued for the welfare of the people. Every policy should also receive administrative sanction to achieve the result based on the methodologies prescribed in the policy. The Forest Policy should itself be a string whip for scientific management of bio-geographic zones of the individual State.
The review and revision committee has divided the entire Indian Union into six bio-geographic zones such as (1) coastal States and island zone, (2) Western Ghat zone, (3) Himalaya zone (4) North Eastern States zone, (5) low Forestry States with Agro-forestry opportunities and urban issue region (6) Central India and desert ecosystem region.
Odisha comes under the first region of coastal States and islands.
It is a fact that the dimensions and components of a policy should be decided first before a final shape is given to a policy. A Forest Policy cannot be a short term policy. Generally, most of the common tree species of this union have been surviving for more than 100 years. So the life span of species in a particular bio-geographic zone and the ecology supported by the bio-geographic climate can be sustainably managed through long term scientific forestry practices.
Hence, the ecology and the forestry cannot be separated in a particular bio-sphere.
There must be commitments of a nation for ecology management. Odisha is suffering from draught in last five years and the usual monsoon rainfall is scarce. The sustainability of ecology of country always provides healthy environment and monitors the good weather and seasons in proper manner. The development of a nation or the globe cannot be expected at the cost of ecology. Now the entire globe understands that no action can bear fruits sacrificing the ecology, where the man himself is a member of the system.
The dimension of ecological management of a State should be well decided for the wellbeing of its citizens. The forest land management is a most important factor and the sensitivity in each case should properly be studied and the management principles should also be decided basing on fragility of the eco-system.
Conversion of forest lands into non-forest lands and non forest lands to forest lands and leasing out the lands for non-forestry practices are going on indiscriminately in Odisha. Due to shortage of non forest lands the compensatory afforestation work, especially in place of mining base areas, is not going on properly and efficiently, which compels the situation for fragmentation of eco-system. Presently for creation of Polavaram project at the foothill of Eastern Ghat, vast areas of vital portion of bio-geographic zone of tropical evergreen forest will be lost, which cannot be substituted by any means. The tropical evergreen bio-graphic zone is the creation of nature through evolutionary process of thousands of years. The National Forest Policy of 1988 aims to preserve 33 per cent of plain forests of total land mass of the State and 60 per cent of hill forests to maintain the ecological balance and stability of the climatic rhythm of nature, but in reality such guidelines are not followed. The new National Forest Policy should ensure principal strategies and guidelines for scientific management of climatic hill and plain forests.
The Mining Forest Divisions like Keonjhar, Baripada, Angul, Sambalpur and Korput were once very rich ecological systems, which covered south-western rain forests of Odisha and controlled the monsoon rainfall. At present such situation on longer exists due to rampant felling of trees and mining operations. The regeneration of degraded forest lands cannot be expected in the near future due to excess human activities within the regions. So, the management plans of forests, particularly of mining lands, should be done very carefully and systematically. A separate work culture through management of mining working circle is always viable to handle such landscape issue through which the biodiversities and wildlife conservation can be smoothly done.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist. Tel no 9937460649)