ECOLOGICAL FORESTRY - A Government Initiative
Nina Sengupta & Mahave Makkapati

India’s rich and diverse natural habitats - which include forests, reefs, wetlands etc. are under immense population pressure.  At present more than 40 percent of the population living adjacent to forests depends on them for livelihood and income.  In this context, conservation and management of forests will not be an easy task.  The situation demands new initiatives, fresh ideas, and efficient implementation.

We interviewed Mr. S.C. Dey, Additional Inspector General - Wildlife, Ministry of Environment and Forests to learn about the government’s recent initiatives in the forestry sector.

The need to conserve and optimally utilise our forests has been felt in the forestry circles.  However, a change in this direction needs to be perceived over a longer time frame.  If changes are introduced  radically, it is likely that priorities of the present decade will be discarded in the coming decades.  The forestry sector would then be the worst sufferer because trees unlike agricultural crops are not annual.  Therefore, changes need to be gradual and well thought out.

India’s forestry scenario has, in fact, not been static all this while; it has changed tremendously in the last four decades. The post-independence period has seen changes in approach  from commercial to industrial forestry; social forestry in mid seventies and the present focus on environmental and ecological forestry.  The primary goal is conservation of biodiversity with benefits accruing to local communities.

The recent Forest Policy (1988) reflects this changed attitude which now needs to be backed by programmes.  The National Forest Action Plan is being prepared which seeks to earmark different categories of protected areas: those for purely conservation purposes and those which can be managed as habitatspecies conservation zones while allowing for certain controlled activities for the benefit of local communities.  Certain areas need to be completely preserved because the complex and diverse life forms in nature cannot be regenerated under any managed system.

Forest areas outside protected areas need to be regenerated and managed for the requirement of the local people and the nation.  In 1984, the target was to plant five million hectares annually but a target of only two million hectares/year could be achieved.  The gap is still large and the population is increasing rapidly.   As a result, even the targetted figure of five mha./yr. is not adequate to meet future requirements.  Therefore, in addition to planting at least 8-10  mha/yr, there is need for growing more biomass, switching over to alternative  sources of biomass and introduction of efficient utilisaiton patterns.  The process of regeneration can be natural or artificial as the situation demands.  The thrust on indigenous species will continue.

As far as the issue of sustainability is concerned, people will have to curtail their dependency on natural habitats to some extent and as compensation, programmes for ecologically compatible economic activities need to be initiated.

Ecodevelopment will be the major thrust in all major thrust in all major plans related to forestry, biodiversity or wildlife.  Presently it is being tried out on an experimental basis.  Once a model is established, further investment would be required to replicate the effort in other areas.

All the above  programmes will require substantial investment.  India has 22 percent of land recorded under forest, whereas the share of forest development in the total expenditure plan is only one percent.  Mobilising funds from within the country and outside, therefore, will be an important task for MOEF.  At both national and international fora, agencies support India’s approach which is viewed as pragmatic and rational.  Now that the Biodiversity Convention has come into force and funds from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) are available, India can expect higher investment and more action on the forestry front.


Environment Action Programme - A summary
The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, initiated an Environment Action Programme in 1993 as a sequel to the National Conservation Strategy and India’s Policy Statement on Environment and Development.  The focus of this programme is on seven top priority areas.  These are :
 

A number of reputed non-governmental institutions are participating in the process, to identify critical issues in the selected areas.

A realistic strategy has been drawn up for implementing the EAP, taking into account potential impacts of the on-going economic liberalisation which will accelerate industrialisation.  Some of these impacts would be higher pollution loads, diversification of natural habitats for other uses, etc.  The strategy is to create the base for drawing up Regional Environmental Impact Assessment profiles based on carrying capacity.  This, coupled with systematic data collection and natural resource accounting will form the underlying foci of all the programmes  in the seven priority areas.  Success of the EAP itself would be assessed in terms of its success in establishing EIA and Natural Resource Accounting as basic tools for decision making at various level.

Following an Inter-Ministerial review the EAP in now ready for implementation.  The Implementation Committee will now guide the identified  institutions in execution and monitoring of the programmes.  The EAP will be reviewed in 1996, a year before Eighth Five Year Plan concludes, through governmental and non-governmental fora, and its outcome is expected to enhance the internalisation of the EAP in future Five Year Plans.

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