Forest policy follows a pragmatic approach

The forest policy, approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday, is the result of a thorough revamp of the draft published early in 2007.The draft underwent changes both in form and content. The form improved considerably. Statements that looked like proposals in the future annual Plans of the department have been replaced with pure policy statements, sometimes clearer than the original. The changes in the content have positive and negative aspects to it.The policy states that efforts to increase the protected areas to one-third of the forest areas will continue, and specifically mentions the proposal to form a Malabar wildlife sanctuary. However, the protected area network proposed for the State by the Wildlife Institute of India two decades ago will not be realised in full. The policy strongly subscribes to the national policy that one-third of the total land areas should be under forest or tree cover. However, it has been clarified that the focus would be on extending tree cover through farm forestry and not by extending forest cover. This is despite a clear statement in the policy that forest leases would be cancelled in the event of breach of lease conditions and renewal would be subject to assessment of ecological importance of the area. The clarification does not come as a surprise as the government is already sitting on transfer of forested areas to the Forest Department in the Kannan Devan Hills of Idukki district. It is under tremendous pressure over non-renewal of lease of Thoothanpara and other estates. The government is also contemplating return of substantial areas of ecologically fragile lands taken over by it through an ordinance. Against this background, the policy has gone back on the draft proposal to protect all ecologically fragile areas. However, the policy does not talk about retaining all forest plantations as the draft did. (There is a Central government ban against replanting plantation in higher elevation areas.). Instead it speaks about improving productivity. It is silent on species rotation, which had been added to the draft during consultations, but mentions a plan to shift from exotic to indigenous species. Similarly, the proposal to tune ecotourism ventures to carrying capacity of specific locations has been dropped besides one to collect a fee from those who exploit ecosystems. No strategy has been proposed for fire control other than enlisting of public participation to prevent fires. The policy recognises deep links between forest conservation and water conservation.

The Hindu, 2nd May 2009