Despite deforestation and human encroachment, the country’s forest cover has remained stable around 20% since Independence. This is because the loss of natural old-growth forests is compensated on paper by expanding monoculture plantations. This shows the challenges in achieving one third forest cover.

Steps suggested by draft national forest policy :-

• National Forest Policy will be an overarching policy for forest management, with the aim of bringing a minimum of one-third of India’s total geographical area under forest or tree .
• NFP, 2018 talks about climate change mitigation through sustainable forest management.
• To address the issue of climate change, NFP, 2018 contributes to the forestry-related Nationally Determined Contribution Targets and by integrating, “climate change mitigation and adaptation measures in forest management through the mechanism of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus) so that the impacts of the climate change is minimised”.
• The Bonn Challenge, for instance, lays emphasis on landscape approaches a model aimed at improving the ecology of a landscape as a whole in order to benefit local livelihoods and conserve biodiversity.
• The NDC lays emphasis not only on carbon sequestration but also adaptation to climate change through a strengthened flow of benefits to local communities that are dependent on forests and agriculture for sustenance.
• This also reflects the spirit of India’s policy framework on forests which lays emphasis on a landscape approach to manage forest and tree cover, so that the flow of multiple ecosystem services including food security, climate mitigation and adaptation, conservation of biological diversity and water supplies is secured.
• The draft policy document also talks about degraded land and how it can be improved by undertaking afforestation activities using public private partnership models.
• The lands available with the forest corporations which are degraded and underutilised will be managed to produce quality timber with scientific interventions.
• Public private participation models will be developed for undertaking afforestation and reforestation activities in degraded forest areas and forest areas available with Forest Development Corporations and outside forests.
• While the role of forests as climate change mitigation factor has been recognised, the draft NFP is vague on the issue of forests rights for forest dwelling communities.
• The document proposes creation of a community forest management mission, bringing government, community and private land under the new proposed management system .
• As far as community forest resources management under Forest Rights Act is concerned, the new policy will address the same under participatory forest management and the same will be addressed through the proposed community forest management mission.
• Proposes the levy of a green tax for facilitating ecologically responsible behaviour and supplementing financial resources essential to address forestry issues
• The policy states that forest land diversion projects related to mining, quarrying, construction of dams, roads and other linear infrastructure need to adopt special caution.
• It states that a National Board of Forestry and State Boards of Forestry are to be established to ensure monitoring of the spread of the forest areas and management of forest cover
• It calls for developing “sound ecotourism models” with the focus on conservation while supplementing the livelihood needs of local communities.
• The draft policy indicates that CAMPA funds from diversion of forest land by industry are to be used for purchasing wildlife corridors from people.
• The policy also asks for management plans for city forests, parks, garden and woodlands to nurture and sustain urban health, clean air and related benefits.
• Telangana Haritha Haaram (THH) flagship programme of Telangana Government that envisages increasing the tree cover of the State from assumed 24% to 33% of the total geographical area.
• It is envisaged that in 3 years a massive plantation drive of 230 crore seedlings with 120 crore in possible outside forests, 100 crore through natural rejuvenation and 10 crore in urban areas.

Concerns :-

• Due to the rising population there is enormous pressure on forest land for extraction of forest based industries and encroachment for extension of agriculture.
• The rising conflicts between conserving forests for generating ecosystem services and diversion for developmental project poses one of the biggest challenges in managing the forest resources.
• The policies adopted in the World Bank project under Joint/Community Forest Management were not sustained, as the village level Van Samrakshan Samithis (VSS) groups in rare cases took stewardship of forest conservation saw it as temporary employment.
• The wide spread corruption have had tremendous impact on forests too.
• Riding the wave of globalisation, market forces penetrated deep inside as forest produce were systematically looted.

Way forward:-

• Identify and reduce the dependency. For instance fuel wood via LPG connections and promoting fast growing timbers in forest fringes, Grazing via stall feeding or rotational grazing, controlling commercial exploitation of forests, adopt zero-tolerance to fires setting targets to reduce fires by 50%, 25% to 10% etc.
• Increase surveillance and setup legal cell in forest department to follow-up on court cases.