The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 was amended in 2023 to name it as the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyan. One of the provisions of the amended law is to promote plantation works on forest lands by government and non-governmental agencies, within the framework of Working Plans of the State Forest Department. The intention of this provision is quite good, as it attracts investment on degraded forest land with a task to re-green it. In other words, afforestation and plantation activities could be carried out on forest land by any private agency after providing for growing compensatory afforestation and recovering the net present value of the forests.
On 2 January 2026, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change issued a circular redefining how these activities on forest lands are exempted from long standing environmental safeguards like compensatory afforestation and recovery of net present value of the forests. Recovering the cost of compensatory afforestation and net present value of the forests required for diversion had been considered as barriers that prohibited big industries from investing in degraded forests.
The circular makes way for pulp and paper and rayon industries to grab the opportunity and use degraded forest land for growing short rotation tree species for the raw material that the industries need. The country is importing newsprint, and this move is said to take us towards ‘Atmnirbharata’. Let me examine in this piece what are the economic and environmental costs associated with it. In addition to opening forest lands for private players, the amended law has some more loopholes. The newly inserted section 1A(1) in the 2023 amendment can make way for the exploitation of the unclassed forests. Around 90 per cent of the forests in the north eastern states are unclassed and successive reports published by the ‘Forest Survey of India’ have shown that these forests are shrinking. It is evident from the bi-annual reports published by the said agency that the country lost 11,743 square km of unclassed forests between 1997 and 2019.
A group of retired Indian Forest Service officers have challenged the amendment in the Supreme Court. The petitioners agitated that the Apex Court’s 1996 rulings in the Gadvarman case with regard to definition of ‘forests’ has been diluted in the amendment and an extent of 1.97 lakh square km forest land in the country stands excluded from the applicability of the original 1980 Act. In February last year, the Court passed an interim order saying when there are exigencies to divert forest lands for any urgent need including strategic requirements on the country’s border, alternative land must be provided for compensatory afforestation. The forests closer to the habitation are subjected to heavy anthropogenic pressures and consequent degradation.
Livestock grazing, removal of bamboo, non-timber forest products and small timber for bona-fide requirements as well as grabbing of forest land for cultivation etc. are the reasons for degradation. Communities residing in the neighborhood and the persons accompanying livestock set fires for easy access to non-timber forest products and regeneration of palatable grasses and foliage. There have been very few success stories, when degraded forests are rehabilitated with native species. We have succeeded only when we planted the monoculture of exotics. There are hardly any evaluation and monitoring reports indicating the success of compensatory afforestation on degraded forest lands and also on non-forest lands.
A central scheme named ‘Rehabilitation of degraded forests’ was in vogue during the 1990s and 2000s. The main work under the scheme was planting native tree species in the gaps created due to degradation. The newly planted saplings faced root competition from the hidden root stock in the soil. Usually the young plantations are provided with rigid protection and watch and ward. Often the area used to become green due to regeneration of old root stocks and the artificially grown sapling used to fail. However, the forest Corporations in many states used to bulldoze and rip the area, and plant short rotation tree species like Populus, Casurina, Eucalyptus and Acacia-auriculiformis. The purpose was to supply the raw materials to industries.
Such projects were also economically viable, but it was at a huge environmental cost. We ended up converting a biodiverse forest to the monoculture of exotic species. Natural forests have higher carbon sequestration potential than the plantation forests. Moreover, the plantations are harvested at the end of rotation. In the warming world we are facing climate related disruptions. The need is to let the natural forests be regenerated with native species and not diverted for plantations of monocultures. While this author was working in the Western Ghats as Deputy Conservator of Forests, Shivamogga, a joint venture of Birla’s Harihar Ployfibres and Government of Karnataka named Karnataka Pulp-wood Ltd. was incorporated in 1985.
Its functionaries bulldozed and ripped a Reserved Forest area in Thirthahalli taluk, deep inside Western Ghats, for growing above exotics. In the process, they had damaged valuable natural tree species including sandalwood. An IFS officer Kisan Singh Sugara in charge of the area had booked a case, arrested the persons and seized the bulldozer. Though the Court initially took cognizance of the case, the government’s notification of a joint venture bailed them out. Activists moved the Supreme Court arguing that the plantations raised by joint ventures on forest lands without the approval of the Central government, were in contravention of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
Karnataka government failed to justify its incorporation and had to dissolve it, duly handing over the assets to the State Forest Corporation. After about four decades of Karnataka allowing investments from private players on forest land and then rolling it back within two-three years, we have come full circle and MoEEFCC has again moved on the same track. Forests, even after degradation, have potential to regenerate, if only we protect them from the entry of humans and livestock. Growing raw materials for wood based industries is also a necessity. Let that be done on degraded lands other than notified forests.
The writer is the former Head of Forest Force, Karnataka