India’s Supreme Court has ruled on the Centre’s ambitious plan to amend the Indian Forest Conservation Act, 1980, which was introduced to curb over-cutting of forests for ‘non-forest purposes’. The attempt was shelved. According to the Center, an estimated 4 million hectares of forests were converted between 1951 and 1975. As per the provisions of the Act, forests cannot be converted except in accordance with the Centre’s regulatory mechanism.
As a measure of its success, the center calculates that from 1981 to 2022, average annual forest conversion fell to about 22,000 hectares, about 10 times less than from 1951 to 1975. However, the provisions of this Act primarily apply to forest areas recognized as forest areas under the Indian Forest Act or other state laws. Illegal logging in Gudalur, Tamil Nadu led to the groundbreaking T.N. In the Godavarman Tirumurupad judgment, the court took a broader view of forest areas worthy of protection.
He also said that forests must be protected regardless of their classification or ownership. This introduced the concept of “designated forests,” areas that are not officially classified as such in government or tax records. Countries are being asked to establish expert committees to identify such “respected forests”. In the 28 years since that ruling, only a handful of states have established such commissions or published the extent of such “significant forests” in their territories.
The Centre’s attempt to amend the Forest (Conservation) Act is ostensibly to address the fact that there are vast areas of recorded forest that are already being used for non-forest purposes with permission from state governments. The purpose was to “clarify” the According to the Center, apparently private forests and orchards are being held by private individuals for fear of being classified as “forest” (invalidating ownership rights), despite their significant ecological benefits.
They are said to be reluctant to manage the situation between themselves. India’s ambition to create 2.5 billion to 3 billion tonnes of carbon sinks to meet its net-zero target required a “dynamic” forest law, so this regulation meant that forests are not yet covered by forest laws. The objective is to remove “certified forests” from areas of India that are not certified as certified. protection. Since this change appears at first glance to be an attack on the law’s purpose of protecting forests.
it has sparked a number of public interest petitions. Although a final judgment is still awaited, the court’s direction to the Center to compile and publish by April the efforts of states to map the extent of designated forests is welcome. At this stage, it is only the Center’s speculation that India’s carbon sinks are hampered by insufficient private initiative. Only by objectively assessing the reality on the ground can we move this vitally important debate forward.