Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill 2023

In News

 Recently, the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill 2023 was cleared

by Parliament.

About the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023

 Restrictions on activities in the forest: The Act restricts the de-

reservation of forest or use of forest land for non-forest
purposes.
o Such restrictions may be lifted with the prior approval of the
central government.
o Non-forest purposes include the use of land for cultivating
horticultural crops, running zoos, ‘eco-tourism’ facilities or
for any purpose other than reafforestation.
 Assigning of land through a lease or otherwise: Under the
Act, state government or any authority requires prior approval of
the central government to direct the assigning of forest land through a
lease or otherwise to any organisation (such as a private person,
agency, authority, corporation) not owned by the government.

 Building forest carbon stock & improving Livelihood: The

predominant idea of the proposed changes is to build forest carbon
stock by raising plantations.
o The Bill talks about keeping up with “dynamic changes in the
ecological, strategic and economic aspirations of the
country” and “improvement of livelihoods for forest-
dependent communities.”
o The scope of the amendments boils down to pushing
plantations to achieve carbon neutrality by limiting the
scope of the Act.

 Compensatory afforestation: The Bill also seeks to make land

available for developers to meet their legal
obligation towards compensatory afforestation in lieu of forest
land diverted for development projects.
o If the scope of the FC Act is restricted, fewer projects will be
required to obtain forest clearance, which is considered a
‘hurdle’ by most developers in and outside the government.
o But it will also help developers secure forest clearance when they
need it.
o A key condition for forest clearance is that a developer must
carry out compensatory afforestation on equivalent non-
forest land or, if non-forest land is not available, on degraded
forest land twice the extent of the forest area diverted.
  BorderLands: It also exempts border lands from the obligation to
seek permissions to clear forests in order to construct “strategic linear
projects of national importance”.

Criticisms

 Definition of a ‘forest’: The Bill’s principal thrust is that

it redefines what a ‘forest’ is in Indian law. It stipulates that only
those lands that were notified as ‘forest’ under the Indian Forest Act
1927, any other relevant law or were recorded as ‘forests’ in government
records will be acknowledged as ‘forests’ under the Act as well.
o This revision stands in stark contrast to the wide
applicability of the extant Act at present – i.e. it applies to “any
forest land”.
o So, the amendment opens up all land that hasn’t been
officially classified as ‘forests’ to commercial activity.
 No checks and balances: The Act also removes the checks and
balances the Act currently includes, in the form of forest clearance
permissions and the informed consent of the local community.
 Choosing plantation over forests: Forests are a lot more than a
sum of trees. Unlike man-made plantations, natural forests
perform a range of ecosystem services that are key to the survival
and well-being of the millions of species that they support, and
also provide direct livelihood and subsistence to crores of people.
 Exemption for linear infrastructure projects: The Bill seeks to
exempt linear infrastructure projects – like roads and highways – from
seeking forest clearance permissions if they are located within
100 km of the national border.
o Experts have raised concerns because “strategic linear
projects of national importance” is an undefined
term and can thus be misused to push through infrastructure
projects that are devastating for the local ecology.
 Non-inclusivity of nomenclature: There were objections to the
Act’s new name — Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan)
Adhiniyam, translated as Forest (Conservation and
Augmentation) Act, instead of the existing Forest (Conservation)
Act — on the grounds that it was “non-inclusive” and left out many
among the “(non-Hindi speaking) population both in South India and
also in the North-East.”
 Not referred to Parliamentary Standing Committee:
o It has also been claimed that the Bill was not referred to the
relevant Parliamentary Standing Committee, which in this case
would have been the Standing Committee on Science and
Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
Implications

 How much area will be affected?

o For an idea of the scale, consider the latest State of Forests Report
(SFR 2021), which records India’s forest cover as 713,789 sq km.
o Of this, nearly 28% or 197,159 sq km — roughly the size of Gujarat
— is not recorded as ‘forest’.
 The areas that stand to be affected in a significant way include
about 40% of the Aravalli range and 95% of the Niyamgiri hill
range; the latter is home to the Dongria Kondh, a Particularly
Vulnerable Tribal Group.
 Many experts are also uncertain, and thus apprehensive, about
the actual extent of land that will fall outside the purview of
the amended Act considering the State-wise data of deemed forests is
not publicly available.
 Exemption of linear infrastructure projects is of particular concern in
the Northeastern States, where the exemption would apply de facto
almost across the region.