On this #worldenvironmentday I thought we can discuss two shocking amendments made to India’s Forest Conservation Act [FCA, 1980].

At the outset, let me remind you that the following amendments were introduced in 2023. [PIB Notification]

FCA [1980] is now being called Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, which translates to Forest (Conservation and Augmentation) Act. 

1. A new provision was inserted that states that VSA will now only be applicable to land that has been notified as forest by the Central or State Government. However, we forget that there are huge tracts of forests in India that fall outside the declared forest areas by Government. These have historically been preserved by local communities and serve as important (wildlife) corridors to larger protected forests like National Parks and Sanctuaries. The amended Act also says that lands which were opened up for non-forestry purposes (before Dec 1996) will also not be governed by VSA. This basically means that very important lands which have forest cover and which maybe used for non-forest purposes are NO LONGER protected under VSA (Forest Act).
2. Section 2 of the Forest Act was important because it controlled which of the forest lands can be de-reserved or diverted for non-forest use. This section has been diluted by specifying which activities may or may not come under non-forest activities. The icing on this melting cake is that the Central Government now has “special powers” to specify which new purposes can be considered non-forest purpose. This has potential for grouse misuse! To give an example, a terrible amendment was introduced in 2023 which states that : The Central Government may, by order, specify the terms and conditions subject to which any survey, such as, reconnaissance, prospecting, investigation or exploration including seismic survey, shall not be treated as non-forest purpose. (p.3, Gazette of India). We all know that “reconnaissance, prospecting, investigation or exploration” is done for finding new minerals (oil, coal, gas, uranium, other economically important metals) and detect potential mining sites. This new amendment says that these “exploration” activities are not non-forest purposes. So such activities can easily be done in forested areas, which eventually will bring the downfall of any forest area!

Now, why are these amendments a problem, you ask? It is because both these amendments will lead to easy facilitation of both habitat destruction and habitat fragmentation in India, which have been cited by scientists as one of the top threats to India’s wild habitats [see references 1 to 6 listed below].

There are also other grave problems with the amendments which have been criticized for infringing upon the constitutional rights of the tribal communities living in/close to forests. I have not touched upon those yet. But you can read the references 7 to 11 for a more detailed critique of the forest act amendments.

Long story short: The fate and future of Indian forests is bleak.

Note: The references have been difficult to understand but I have attempted to break down/simplify these two points. If anyone has some feedback on this article, or if there is some error, please do get back to me.

References

[1] Ghosh-Harihar M et al. (2019) Protected areas and biodiversity conservation in India, Biological Conservation 237 114–24.
[2] Pande H K and Arora S. (2014) India’s fifth national report to the convention on biological diversity. Ministry of environment and forests. New Delhi: GoI. p 142.
[3] Kumar, A., Chellam, R., Choudhury, B. C., Mudappa, D., Vasudevan, K., Ishwar, N. M., & Noon, B. R. (2002). Impact of rainforest fragmentation on small mammals and herpetofauna in the Western Ghats, south India. WII-USFWS Collaborative Project Final Report, WWI Dehradun, 146pp.
[4] Kale, M. P., Talukdar, G., Panigrahy, R. K., & Singh, S. (2010). Patterns of fragmentation and identification of possible corridors in north Western Ghats. Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, 38, 401-413.
[5] Madhavan, R., & Shaju, T. (2024). Impacts of Habitat Fragmentation in Myristica Swamp Forests of Western Ghats, India: Vegetation Shift Analysis. India: Vegetation Shift Analysis. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4697972
[6] Menon S, & Bawa KS. (1997) Applications of geographic information systems, remote-sensing, and a landscape ecology approach to biodiversity conservation in the Western Ghats. Curr Sci 73(2):134–145.

Articles that discuss the Forest Act

[7] Nitnaware, H. (2023). Name change of Forest Conservation Act imperative, as it is treated as ‘Forest Clearance Act’: DG forests. Down to Earth.
[8] Bhargava, P. (2023). The Forest (Conservation) Act amendments will fail the nation. Hornbill Oct-Dec, 10-13.
[9] Rao, R. (2024). Why Forest Conservation Amendment Act may be deemed unconstitutional. Down to Earth.
[10] CR Bijoy. (2024). Will Forest Conservation Amendment Act of 2023 sound the ‘death knell’ for India’s forests? The Frontline.
[11] Saxena, K. B. (2024). The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act 2023: A Threat to Forest Lands and Forest Dwellers. Social Change, 54(1), 108-117.

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