Daily Current Affairs

Forest Conservation Rules, 2022

Geography (CDS) Current Geography and Enviroment

Context: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has notified the Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2022.

The Forest (Conservation) Rules deal with the implementation of the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), 1980.
These rules mention the procedure to be followed for the diversion of the forest land to non-forestry activities like developments of roads or highways, railways and mining.
There is a need for getting approval from the Union government for diverting forest land of over five hectares. This will be done through a Forest Advisory Committee (FAC).
The FAC will assess the request for diversion of land and ensure that the consequences or damages of felling of trees and denuding the local landscape are minimum and doesn’t damage the wildlife habitat.
After the FAC approval, the request is sent to the respective states which then assess the land diversion activity based on the provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA).
Further, the future users of the land are mandated to provide compensatory land for afforestation and also pay the net present value (NPV).

The latest rules provided that compliance with the FRA is not required for the final approval for the diversion of forest land.
According to these rules, the Union government can first approve the handover of the forest and collect payment for compensatory afforestation.
The state government then has to settle the forest rights of the communities and rehabilitate them.
Further, these rules extend a provision for private parties to cultivate plantations and sell them as land to firms who are supposed to meet the compensatory afforestation targets.
These rules also provide timeframes within which various projects must be reviewed by a project screening committee.
For example: All non-mining activities that divert land of between 5-40 hectares must be reviewed within 60 days.
It also provides for the establishment of an Advisory Committee which advises the government about the grant of approval to such projects.
The rules also provide that if the forest land is to be diverted in a state or a UT that has a forest cover of more than two-thirds of its geographical area, the compensatory afforestation may be taken up in another state or UT which has forest cover less than 20% of its total geographical area.

Critics feel that these rules will dilute the Forest Rights Act, 2006 as the Act mandated the governments to seek the prior and informed consent of forest dwellers before allowing a project on their traditional lands.
Opposition parties have claimed that the new rules will adversely impact tribal rights and encourage ‘ease of snatching’ forest land in the name of ensuring “ease of doing business”.
Critics also opine that these rules put the burden of ensuring the rights of Scheduled Tribes on the state governments.
Further experts pointed out that the new rules bypass the requirement of getting an NOC from gram sabha before diverting forestland.

The government says that the latest rules will help to increase the forest cover in the country and also address the problems of the States of not finding land within their jurisdiction for compensatory purposes.
The MoEFCC said that fulfilling and complying with the FRA, 2006 was an independent process and could be undertaken by States “at any stage” of the forest clearance process.
The government has justified the rules by saying that they will help “streamline” the procedure of getting approvals as they allow parallel processing of the proposals and eliminate redundant processes.

Environmental and forestry experts feel that the Government must revisit the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2022 as the implementation of new rules can have severe consequences on the environment and ecology of the country as well as on the rights of various tribes and forest dwellers.