Recent government guidelines allowing private parties to undertake the reforestation of degraded forests can open the door for companies to turn forests into plantations for commercial exploitation, some environments fear.
They argue that plantations — which feature only one kind of crop chosen for profit — cannot match the ecological richness of biologically diverse forests, featuring grassland, bushland and different species of trees.
Government sources defended the new legal architecture saying it would lead to government-private partnerships in helping India increase its green cover.
The environment, forest and climate change ministry had issued the guidelines under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, on January 2, allowing government as well as non-government entities to carry out reforestation and ecological restoration of degraded forestland.
Till now, such activity was the sole province of the government.
Further, the non-government entities are exempt from paying any environment levies for these projects, to be carried out with the state government’s agreement and under the state forest department’s supervision.
“Provided that where the State Government agrees to undertake assisted natural regeneration including afforestation/ plantation, for purposes mutually agreed between the States/ UTs and Government or non-Government entities, such activities undertaken in accordance with the provisions of an approved Working Plan/ Management Plan, applicable in such cases and under the supervision of the State Forest Department shall be deemed to constitute forestry activities,” the notification said.
“Consequently, the requirements of Compensatory Afforestation and payment
of Net Present Value shall not be applicable to such activities.”
Environmentalist and lawyer Ritwick Dutta feared the new guidelines would lead to the commercialisation of forests.
“The danger here is that large areas of forests could now be converted into plantations, and plantations instantly are not equal to forests,” Dutta said.
“Plantations cannot (perform) the functions which biologically diverse forests can do. The danger that I see here is that it is going to encourage not just the government or State entities to do it, but also private entities to carry out large-scale plantations.”
However, whether one should move court against the new legal regime would be decided later, he said.
Vikrant Tongad, an environment conservationist involved in tree plantation and pond restoration projects, agreed that carrying out plantation in the name of reforestation would be unwelcome.
He, however, said that if degraded forestland is opened up to plantation by private agencies, environmental NGOs and environment conservationists, it can be a positive step — provided that native species are planted.
“In my experience, while working to make the Surajpur Wetland, Greater Noida and parts of Delhi free from the invasive kikar species, I had repeatedly sought no-objection certificates for native plantation on forestland under approved management plans. These permissions were denied solely because the land was classified as forestland,” Tongad said.
However, he cautioned that the forest department must ensure that such permissions are not misused and that forestland is not diverted for non-forest activities.
“Another interpretation of this notification in the media suggests that it may allow commercial plantations by private parties on forestland, as seen in some parts of Kerala,” he said. “That could seriously affect the core purpose of forests.”
Tongad, who is still studying the notification, said a final conclusion could be drawn only after discussions with other stakeholders and state forest officers.
Former Union environment minister and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had been the first to highlight the dangers through a post on X on January 7.
“In August 2023, the Modi Government had bulldozed amendments to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 through Parliament,” he wrote.
“Apart from renaming this law as the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, these amendments had introduced far-reaching changes in the legal regime for the governance of forests in the country. It had been pointed out at that time itself that the amendments opened the door for the privatisation of forest management.”
Degraded forestland is one with reduced tree cover, poor soil and diminished biological richness in terms of clean water, timber and biodiversity.